The Meaning of Strength
by AxelLord20
Summary: Academy City, The Land of Science, takes pride in developing their Espers. They praise and glorify the high levels, while they discriminate the weak and call them trash. This is the story of a Certain 13 year old boy and his friends, that decides to show the world that even the weak can become strong and protect those dear to them
1. Those who Suffer

**Welcome to my very first FanFic, please forgive me for my grammar if it is not pronounced properly, if possible please point out any of my blunders.**

 **Anyway, this FanFic is about the past of Touma in a AU, I'm not planning on making him SUPER OP like other Fics, but I do plan on revising his Imagine Breaker to make it pretty strong. By the way any suggestions like OC characters or how the plot 'may' continue would be appreciated. Also please forgive me for the characters being a bit OOC**

 **Thanks again everyone, let's get this started**

 **==Scene 1==**

Academy City, or city of science as some may say, has the population of 2.3 million people, with 80% being students, and the remaining 20% being adults that would either be scientists, teachers, researchers, business men, workers, and other jobs. Academy City is known for it's 20-30 year advanced scientific technology that any other country would kill for.

However, due to the fact that Academy City is the most scientific advanced city there is, it is mostly sealed off from the world. Either for the fact that they wouldn't want research to be spread around the world, or them just simply being too paranoid, it would take a hell lot of time signing different types of documents just to visit their children in AC, much more just trying to get them enrolled.

True to it's name, Academy City is largely composed of many different types of schools and research institutes. For schools, some of the top schools such as Tokiwadai which only accepts Level 3 and above Espers and can give its students special privileges. For research institutes, the best would probably be the Kihara family, they are known for their wide array of knowledge which can go from something as complex like Espers to simply knowing how to stop other people's heart with a single technique.

Now let's go through one important factor that everyone who lives in AC HAS to know, "Espers", now what is an Esper? The word Esper technically defines all, as in ALL, the students of AC. Besides AC's advanced technology in practically everything, the true core of AC are the Espers who live there

To put it simply, Espers are both similar yet different to normal humans, similar in a way of physical looks, to having family and friends, to being emotional to some things, and to even how they react to the smallest of things. Espers are also different from humans because of the fact that, yes I'm not lying, they have freaking powers. But don't get me wrong, not everyone who goes through the Power Curriculum (The process of becoming an Esper) gets the chance of gaining a power, normally they would divide the Espers to different categories to determine how strong/dangerous they are.

 **Level 0** \- Either No powers whatsoever or unnoticeable power - No Control

 **Level 1** \- Weak Powers - Barely Manageable

 **Level 2** \- Rare/Unique Powers - Hard to Control

 **Level 3** \- Strong Powers - Good Control

 **Level 4** \- Great Powers - Great Control

 **Level 5** \- Super Power - Total Control

For obvious reasons, those that are Level 0 are normally discriminated against, and from time to time called "Trash of Academy City", and some people would tell them that no matter how hard you try, trash will always remain trash. Of course, while all this nonsense is happening, those on 'top' sit in their thrones and act like Gods just because they have superior power. They have power to protect, the power to set things right and yet, what do they do? Nothing. Absolutely Nothing. Instead of helping others in need, they would use their power to step on the weak.

Though not all are like that, there are some who would want to help but are simply afraid. Well it is okay to be afraid, who in their right mind would even dare challenge a group of High Levels just to simply protect a Low Level one, and that's fine. Just the fact that there are people like that who still have goodness within them is good enough. But, even so, there are those who are Low Levels who are willing to go through such heights just to save a single person crying out for help.

For example, a single girl, lying on the floor while being harassed and insulted by High Levels simply because she had no power whatsoever. That is, until, she was saved. Not by some knight in shining armor, nor by a High Level Esper that decided to grow a proper heart, instead she was saved from another kid about a couple years older than her holding what seems like a baseball bat and wearing dirty clothes. Honestly, he looks nothing like a hero, but yet the girl couldn't stop looking at him in awe.

"Don't you dare touch her you damned Bastards!" The boy shouted at the Espers.

 **==Scene 2==**

In what seems to be a dark alleyway around district 13, a young girl about 9 years old, with black hair that stretched to the middle of her back, with a flower pin on the side of her head, she was wearing a black sweater and a white skirt that reached till her knees. She was being chase by 3 teenagers around 15 years old. She was Saten Ruiko Level 0

While she was running, one of the teenagers stretched out his arm towards the girl, and closed it as if he was grasping something and pulled. Which, by what it seems to be extremely unlucky from a third person's perspective, Ruiko ended up tripping. How you may ask? Simple. One of the 3 teenagers that was chasing her was a Telekinetic, by using his power to grab on to one of her legs and pulled while she was in mid step.

Due to the sudden force that latched on to her leg, Ruiko couldn't keep herself from falling face first on to the ground and landing in a puddle.

She then tried to get up to start running away again when she was kicked in the back by one of the Espers, making her fall again, and this time unable to move.

"What's wrong girlie? Can't move? How sad, I almost pity you. NOT." the Esper began putting more weight on his leg as he was slowly crushing her back.

"AGGHHHHHHHH" Ruiko could only scream in pain as she was slowly losing all the air in her lungs, she tried and she tried to get herself out of this horrifying situation. Only to have the pressure in her back to increase, and she could feel as if her back could snap at any moment.

"Ahhhh~~~ can you hear those wonderful screams Shiri-san, Kansui-san?" he then proceeds to take off his foot from her back and kicked her in the gut so hard that it sent her flying a few inches off the ground, making her body slide when she landed a few meters away from where she originally was, knocking all the air from her body.

*Cough Cough* _(IT HURTS! IT HURTS SO MUCH! PLEASE MAKE IT STOP)_

"HAHAHAHA! Look at her Tawagoto-san! She's acting like a dying rat, like the vermin she is." The one who said that was a guy named Shiri, he has Combed back brown hair, brown eyes, he was wearing one of those red - turtlenecks? The kind that only snobby rich people wear, and blue jeans. He's also the Level 3 Telekinetic that tripped her, he has the power to grab objects, or in some cases people, and forcibly push or pull them from himself.

"Can't we kill her or something boss? I mean we'll be doing society a favor by taking out the trash that does nothing but waste the city's resources." The one who just spoke was named Kansui, a real proper dousche alright, he was pretty much bald, same brown eyes as the other one, he was wearing a black v-neck shirt, and slacks. He's a Level 3 Power Amplifier, like it's name implies, he can amplify or 'increase' his muscle mass to make himself stronger and sturdier than a normal human.

"I wish we could Kansui-san, but sadly we can't. After all if we did, the authorities might find out and call Anti-Skill. It would be a pain if we get caught." This guy right here is named Tawagoto, he had black hair that was kinda long that reached the back of his neck, he had black eyes, he was wearing a white shirt with a jacket over it, and he was wearing jeans. Like the others, he too was a Level 3. His was a Pyromancer, it allows him to use flames caused by friction and make something like a mini fireball in his hand.

"So what're we gonna do, nothing?" Shiri asked.

"Calm down Shiri-san, all I said was that we can't kill her, I never said we can't rough her up a bit." Tawagoto responded, and the three boys turned their heads toward Ruiko.

The girl couldn't help but shudder at the thought of what they're going to do to her. When she saw them turn their head towards her direction, she couldn't do anything as she started shaking uncontrollably under their stares with sadistic grins and a dark look in their eyes.

"w-w-why? w-why are y-you doing this to m-me? I-I did n-nothing wrong. Please... just let me go..." Ruiko pleaded as tears start falling out of her eyes.

"Huh? Why? Isn't it obvious?" Tawagoto said as he started strutting towards the girl. When he arrived in front of the her, he grabbed her hair and lifted her in the air.

"AHHHH-HHHHH, IT HURTS! PLEASE STOP!" the girl started screaming in pain, but the boy didn't let go, nor did he look ashamed, the only thing you can see on his face is... Amusement.

He leaned towards her ear and whispered "You want me to tell you why I'm treating you like this?"

She slowly nodded while she was crying in pain

"BECAUSE ALL YOU F$& ING LEVEL 0s ARE NOTHING BUT LIVESTOCK IN THE FACE OF US, HIGH LEVELS!" He then proceeded to push his left palm towards her body and let out a tiny explosion, not enough to destroy walls, but definitely enough to harm a little girl, it was enough to send her flying back a couple of inches.

All she could do was writhe in pain as she had a third degree burn on her stomach, she couldn't even scream. While she was there suffering, the three Espers couldn't help but laugh at the poor girl.

"Tell me. How does it feel to be so weak, so powerless that you couldn't even protect yourself. People like you are nothing but trash, do you hear me? Your there, at the bottom of the food chain, and there is nothing you could do about it." he made sure to say his last words slowly so she could hear it clearly.

Ruiko couldn't help but think, which was more painful, the burn on her belly? Or the fact that what he was saying was true. She couldn't do anything, no matter what she tried, she felt so helpless that it hurts. All she could do was cry.

"Oh come on don't cry girlie, if you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being born as someone so weak." but even so she kept crying, she didn't care anymore, she just wanted to go home, to get away from all this pain "Tsk, let's wrap this up boys, beat her up or something and take whatever valuable things she has."

Then the two boys from the back, Shiri and Kansui, slowly approached her with a sadistic grin.

 _(I can't take this anymore, this pain, it hurts too much. I just want to wake up from this nightmare. Please someone. PLEASE SOMEONE WAKE ME UP FROM THIS NIGHTMARE!)_

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS DOING!?" a kid slightly older than the girl by 3-4 years, he had black spiky hair, ocean blue eyes, and he was wearing black long sleeves with a yellow t-shirt over his long sleeves and was wearing black slacks. In his hands was it what seems to be a baseball bat, the metal kind, and he was in a position where he was ready swing it if anything bad happens. He was Kamijou Touma Level 0 Imagine Breaker

"Huh? Who the hell are you. Scram, brats shouldn't interfere with the business of adults." they said while staring down on to the strange boy, normally anybody would run the other direction instead of going towards it, who would fight against Espers that is clearly higher level than him. Touma would. What he did next surprised everyone there.

He slowly walked forward till he was in front of Ruiko, and readied himself for a fight. Even though he himself was a Level Zero, he would do anything for those who cry for help. So he steeled himself and shouted "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER YOU DAMNED BASTARDS!"

"Who the F$& does this kid think he his?! Kids like you need to be disciplined!" Kansui snarled at Touma while amplifying his muscles to be as hard as stone.

"n-no! Y-you need to run! They're dangerous, t-they'll kill you!" the girl told Touma to leave, which surprised even him. Sure getting hurt is one thing, but watching another person get hurt just for you? That's one thing the girl couldn't bear, she was scared, yes, but she didn't want to see anybody else getting hurt just to protect her.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you" he turned around and rubbed the girl's head reassuringly. That one action, that one sentence, was enough to convince the girl that everything was gonna be alright. How? She doesn't know, she just, believes in him. She believes in the Hero in front of her.

 **==Scene 3==**

 ** _30 minutes earlier_**

"Sup BiriBiri! Did you wait too long? Huh, where are the others?" asked a certain spiky haired boy.

"You Idiot! What was taking you so long! Saya and the others left already because you took too long!" The one who responded was a girl that was 11 years old, she had chestnut hair and chestnut eyes, she was wearing a gekota t-shirt with a white cardigan over the shirt that had a gekota pin on the right breast area, and had a white skirt with shorts underneath. She was Misaka Mikoto Level 1 Electromancer

"Ehh~~ and you were waiting for me? Thanks Mikoto!" Touma said as he shined a brilliant smile towards her.

"Eh?! O-Of course not! I-it's just that I've known you longer than the others and so I felt a little responsible for you that's all!" Mikoto said as she was blushing profusely and was a shade of red.

"Ok ok, you can calm down Mikoto, anyway let's go already, we shouldn't keep them waiting"

"You were the one that kept us waiting!" She said as she went * _Biri Biri_ * without her noticing "And besides, where's your baseball bat? We won't be able to play without it."

"Eh? AHHH! Your right, I completely forgot about it! I knew I forgot something, Fukou da..." said the spiky haired boy as he mentioned his own catchphrase

"Seriously, I can't believe you forgot it while your the one who suggested we try to play baseball like the one from TV instead of normal catch. When you plan something you need to remember what you need, geez I feel like I'm older than you" she said as she scolded the boy

"Eheheh, sorry Mikoto I promise it won't happen again" he said while clasping his hands together and bowing to her "Now, Uhh, can we run back to my apartment real quick so we could get it. I promise I'll make it up to you by treating you to some ice cream!"

 _(ICE CREAM)_ "Well *ahem* if you insist, I don't mind back with you to your apartment. But on one condition! When we're on our way to Saya and the others, we'll race and the first one to get there will be.. the... Uhhh- what was it again?" she said as she was holding her chin

"Batter?" Touma couldn't help but sigh

"Yea that's it! Anyway lets go already" Mikoto said as she started matching towards Touma's dorm

"Calm down BiriBiri, we can take our time you know." he said while matching Mikoto's walking pattern to his so that he won't end up going ahead of her.

10 minutes passed and while they were walking they talked about school and what's bee going on lately in their daily lives as they arrive at Touma's apartment.

"Were here" he said as he unlocked the door to his room revealing a somewhat decent room. To the left there was a bathroom, on the right side of the room he had what seem to be a mini kitchen, on the far right side of his room was his bed, while the other side was his desk with all his books and beside it was the tv. In the middle of the room was a wooden table.

But that's not what caught Mikoto's eye, what she was curious of was the fact that he had a proper kitchen. It's not bad to have a proper kitchen or anything, it's just the fact that his kitchen looked like it wasn't unused or anything, as if someone actually cooked before. She didn't know why she could tell, but she knew that whoever cooked there, cooked something good. "Hey Touma? Do you cook by any chance?"

"Hmm? Yea, why are you askin?" he said while he was rummaging through his belongings trying to find his metal bat.

"If you can cook, then why haven't you made me anything before, I mean we're Bestfriends right?" Mikoto herself seems like she doesn't even know why she was saying what she was saying.

"Yea?" Touma doesn't know why but he felt cold sweat going down his temples

"Has anyone else tasted your cooking before?"

"No."

"Good, then later after the game you'll cook dinner for you and me" She said while pointing her index finger at Touma while blushing a shade of light pink.

"Ehhh? Why do I have to do that?" Touma said as he checks in his cabinet for the baseball bat.

"Didn't you say that you'll pay me back for making me wait for you awhile ago, even though I still want ice cream, I'll have your cooking instead, It can't be that bad right?"

"Ehhh?" He sighed in defeat "Fine, I'll make some curry or steak for dinner just for you, how does that sound?" He looked at Mikoto and couldn't resist the small smile that formed on his lips.

"J-just for me? Really?!" Mikoto said as she looked at Touma expectantly.

"Of course! Have I ever lied to you BiriBiri?"

"Sometimes" she said as she was smirking

"Ouch. You know what I mean Mikoto." He said feeling a tad bit embarrassed at himself

"Just kidding." She couldn't help but giggle at his reaction "Thank you Touma!" she said while putting on a smile that was so bright that not even the sun could outmatch it.

"Your welcome." He couldn't help but form a smile himself, ( _I swear, her smile is contagious!_ ) he thought to himself.

They stand there just looking at each other as if time stopped moving for the two of them, that is, until Touma's phone started to ring an irritatingly loud ringtone.

He grabbed his phone from his pocket while panicking in result of him nearly dropping it, luckily _(WAIT. LUCKILY?! NOTHING EVER IS LUCKY AROUND THIS KAMIJOU)_ , he didn't.

He looked at the Caller ID and recognized immediately, it was Saya. _(Oh S$ & . I FORGOT THAT WE WERE SUPPOSED TO MEET UP WITH THEM_ _! I KNEW I COULDN'T BE SO LUCKY! Now I wish I did drop my phone)_ He thought to himself as he lamented over his Misfortune.

He sighed and resigned himself to fate as he answered the phone half-expectantly waiting for her to chew him out for being late, and sad to say, he was right "Hi Saya, how you do-" he was interrupted by a few words that shouldn't and never should be said by a 11 year old.

"...!"

"C-C-Calm down Saya, we'll be there soon. Me and BiriBiri had to go back to my apartment to find my baseball bat!" Touma tried to act defensively with reason and logic to try and stop the venom coming out of the 11 year old friend of his, only to accidentally anger yet another beast of a 11 year old that is literally a walking tazer.

"OI, IDIOT DON'T GET ME WRAPPED UP IN YOUR PROBLEMS! IF YOU DIDN'T FORGET YOUR BASEBALL BAT, WE WOULD BE PLAYING OUTSIDE WITH THE OTHERS BY NOW!" The enraged Mikoto started to go _*Biri Biri*_ , preparing to shock to fool in front of her.

"HOLD ON BIRIBIRI NO NEED TO GO PHYSICAL HERE! WE CAN ALL WORK THIS OUT, all we have to do is calm down for a moment." Touma said while feeling cold sweat go down his temples as he slowly walks backward.

"...!"

"Ehhh?! Why are you blaming this Kamijou for everything? I did nothing i tell you! Nothing!"

"..."

"I promise we'll be there soon! See you later Saya!" He placed down his phone before Saya could reply. "Fukou Da."

"I can't believe you hanged up on Saya like that, you know she's not gonna let that go y'know?" Mikoto made sure to remind him that even a 11 year old can be scary.

"Please don't remind this Misfortunate soul. Oh here it is!" He said as he reached his hand behind his desk, and pulled out what seems to be a metal stick, or a baseball bat in this case. "Your more trouble than your worth stupid bat." He held it up in the air to try and determine the weight, and took a batting stance and swung it a few times.

"It's good and all that you found it, but we should get going now. Or else Saya's going to become scary later." She says as she involuntarily shivers at the thought of what she can do when she's angry.

"Y-your right BiriBiri, let's go." They both walk out the apartment.

"Hey Touma?" Mikoto says to try and break the ice.

"What?"

"Do you still want to race?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure." He says while thoughtfully holding his chin.

"So your afraid that you'll lose?" She said while smirking playfully.

"Of course not! I can easily beat you anytime, anywhere." He announced while a playful smirk started forming on his lips as well.

"Is that a challenge I hear?"

"You bet it is!"

"Last one there treats the other to ice cream later!" Mikoto announced as she took off at high speed.

"Hey! You took a headstart!" Touma shouted as he started running as well.

Now what he didn't expect was, Mikoto suddenly getting on the automatic bus. "Bye Touma, see you at the field!" She said while she was grinning, as the bus started to leave.

"Hey! That's cheating! Fukou Da!" Now, here's the thing, running would take about 15 minutes to get there even if he strained his legs, while the bus would only take 5 minutes. What can he do to get to the field before her?

 _(Come on Touma, think! Think!)_

He thought to himself as he looks around frantically for a shortcut

 _(Over there!)_

He looked at one of the many alleyways in District 13, and remembered that there was a shortcut he could take to get to the field, if he ran at full speed. It would take about 5 minutes to get there if he were to push his legs to the limit

 _(I got no time to lose!)_

As he was running down the long narrow alleyway, he noticed that for some reason most of the trash bins have been tipped over. It's almost as if someone knocked them over intentionally or something.

And that's when he heard it.

"AHHHH-HHHHH, IT HURTS! PLEASE STOP!" The sound of someone in trouble. The screams of a little girl crying for help.

Touma snapped his head in the direction of the scream and began running towards it, he didn't even think it over, his body just started moving as if it had a mind of its own.

 _(OH GOD, WHOEVER YOU ARE, PLEASE BE SAFE)_

He started running down the alleyway, taking paths he didn't even know existed.

He was running so fast that he felt his legs tightening under fatigue, he even ended up tripping a couple of times, which dirtied his favorite shirt.

That's when he came across them.

3 teenagers, roughly about 15 years old and and probably a head taller than Touma. They didn't look like your everyday delinquents, in fact, they look like spoiled rich kids who had everything delivered to them on a silver platter.

But he didn't care about that.

What he was pissed at was the fact that those 3 bastards were laughing down at a injured, fragile girl. That looked like she can break at any moment.

Touma couldn't bear it, he couldn't bear to watch this heart wrenching scene and do nothing about it. He didn't care that they were older, or the fact that there rich, or probably even a High Level Esper, he didn't care about all that nonsense. The only thing he cared about was to stop this madness, and to make sure the girl stops crying.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS DOING!?" He roared. For the first time in years, he was absolutely pissed, not at the teenagers, but at the fact that he couldn't have arrived sooner before she was injured.

"Huh? Who the hell are you? Scram, brats shouldn't interfere in the business of adults." One of teenagers hissed at him, but Touma wasn't even paying attention at him anymore. Instead, Touma was analyzing there abilities. How? It's simple really.

Imagine Breaker, the ability of Kamijou Touma. Anything supernatural that comes into contact of his right arm will be negated, even God's miracles. But it also has another function, the ability to 'sense' or 'determine' the abilities of those in a 15 meter in diameter around him, which the 3 bastards are within. The farther they are, the harder it would be to sense it.

Some might think 'Isn't this some High Level ability? Why is he a Level 0?', the reason why he is a Level 0 is the fact that he negates his own AIM field. And since he has no AIM field, the machines that determines the Level of Espers deem him a Level 0.

 _(Fire, Strength, and Telekinetic. This will be hard.)_

He knows it, Touma knows for a fact that if he messes up once, he'll be horribly beaten. So bad that his injuries might be worse than the girl's injuries. But he still doesn't care, all he wants to do is protect this girl in front of him, to make sure she doesn't shed another tear that day.

So he steeled himself, he walked in front of the girl with full intention of protecting her, and roared "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER YOU DAMNED BASTARDS!"

"Who the F$& does this kid think he is?! Kids like you need to be disciplined!" The bald guy snarled at Touma, but he was still unfazed

"n-no! Y-you need to run! They're dangerous! T-they'll kill you!" This time it was the girls turn to speak, though not what he was expecting.

But he was happy, the very fact that even though she was beaten and wounded , and yet still care about other people's well being. The very fact that there are still people like those out there in this city made him happy. And now he has another reason to protect this girl no matter what.

He turned around, kneeled on the ground and patted her head and said "Don't worry, I'll protect you." He smiled at her reassuringly.

He then stood up and faced his enemies, but this time he was determined to do his very best to not lose.

And he also has to make this quick, after all, Mikoto and Saya will kick his ass for being late.

 **== Author's note ==**

 **So what do you guys think about the story? If you guys have any suggestions please do tell me some of them, wether it be of scenarios, characters, or Esper abilities (Low level ones around 1-3) if possible. Any suggestion would be appreciated.**

 **(I kinda need some help with OC characters for the group of friends of Touma and Mikoto, cause they will be main-side characters in this story as well)**

 **Also feel free for suggestions for how Touma will take on the Espers, I won't make it where he can kick ass even at a young age, no, Touma here will be cunning and will use Low blows at any given moment.**

 **Feel free to review, also I dare you guys to translate the 3 teenagers' name from Jap - Eng, you'll be pleased to know that I don't really like them as well so I based their oh so special names to describe their characters.**

 **Anyway thanks guys for reading, and if you want more just send me a review and I'll make some more**


	2. The Reason we Fight

**Re:Posted**

 **Hey** **guys, I'm back for another chapter of 'The Meaning of Strength'. I hope that some of you guys have been enjoying this so far. As before if you guys have any suggestions to give me such as characters or maybe abilities, please do and that would be appreciated.**

 **BTW guys, some of the characters here are a bit OOC, Touma for example. I'm going to make it where he'll mock the enemies because he needs them pissed off or simply 'just because' he wants to do it. (Forgive me for one of the jokes he makes, I couldn't help it XD)**

 **Anyway, thank you guys, and let's get started.**

 **== Scene 1 ==**

In an alleyway within district 13, there was a girl being harassed by 3 High Level Bastards. They ganged up on her, beat her, and called her trash, and yet they don't even show a single sign of remorse.

But, when all hope seems lost, a hero came to save the day. He wasn't some knight in shining armor, nor was he a High Level that decided to grow a proper heart. Instead he was a kid, roughly about 13 years old, with nothing but a metal baseball bat in his hands.

Some may be wondering 'just who is this mysterious hero that came out of nowhere, and what heroic thoughts are going through his mind right now as he tries to save a damsel in distress?' Well, it goes something like this

 _(CRAAAAAPPPP, IM SO SCREWED! I CAN'T BELIEVE I SAID ALL THAT! I'm pretty sure that I just pissed them off more... Fukou Da.)_ He thought to himself as he felt cold sweat come over his body. _(I know that I can't bear to see a crying girl like that and all, but pissing them off without a single plan is a baaaaaaddd idea.)_

As Touma was mentally berating himself, one of the teenagers, Kansui, started approaching him. "Well, well, well. What do we have here, a hero-wannabe. I bet you just got it from one of your kiddie cartoons and thought to yourself 'that's so cool!' or somethin." He scoffed at him.

Touma felt a vein throbbing at the side of his head, but decided to calm down first because acting irrationally will only get him hurt. _(Calm down Touma, calm down. They're just teasing you, no need to get so agitated. I need to form a plan first before I do anything I'll regret.)_

He then decided to slowly reach for his pocket, which hopefully goes unnoticed, opened his phone and speed-dialed one of his friends. _(Please pick up)_ And slowly took his hand out of his pocket, not knowing wether or not they answered the phone.

 _(Hopefully she picks up, if things go bad I'll be screwed. Ah hell, even if he did pick up, I still have to stall for some time for him to arrive.)_

"Don't you guys feel ashamed for yourselves?! For assaulting a young girl that's just about 10 years old! Where's your dignity as a human being?!"

"Hahhh? Dignity? Who cares about all that sh*t, me and my friends here were just bored and decided to play with that piece of trash over there. Honestly, she should rejoice in the fact that we're willing to spend our time with a degenerate of society like her.." The one in the back, 'Tawagoto', stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the universe.

"You were just... bored? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! So what, your saying that you'll hunt down, us Lower Levels and corner us in alley ways for FUN?!" It took everything in Touma to stop himself from snapping at them.

"Hey, don't be like that. After all we're just doing society a favor by taking out the trash." He said as he started to walk towards Touma.

Okay, he snapped "YOU BASTARD! DON'T YOU DARE TALK TO HER LIKE THAT! Atleast she has a a proper heart to care about others even when she, herself is suffering. When I lay my hands on you I swear I'm gonna..."

"Oh? Your gonna do what now?..." Tawagoto scowled at Touma.

"..."

"What's wrong? Cat's got your tongue?"

"If you think you can look down on others just because your strong..." Touma muttered under his breath as he slowly clenches his right fist, and tightly gripped the baseball bat in his left hand.

"Huhhhhh? What the hell are you going on about."

"That you guys think your all important just because your more talented than others, and believe yourself to be omnipotent..."

Touma raised his head to look at the Espers straight in eyes, and raised his clenched fist with determination.

"THEN I'LL HAVE TO SHATTER THAT MESSED UP ILLUSION OF YOURS!" Touma gripped the metal bat in his hands, preparing for a fight.

 _(AHHHH, SCREW THESE GUYS! I'll take down that annoying Pyrokinetic down atleast!)_

"Brats like you, should be punished for talking to us like that!" He said as he shot a fireball, that was the size of a basketball, in Touma's direction.

But before it actually managed to hit him, Touma stretched out his right arm and quickly slapped away the fireball that was heading his way. That was when the sound of glass breaking resounded throughout the alleyway.

"Wha-?!" Touma didn't give him the time to react.

Her rushed forward while gripping on to the baseball bat with his left hand, till he was in front of him. Touma, then decided on his 'proper' course of action.

He kicked him where it hurts.

He kicked him in the most sensitive spot known to mankind. The one sure way of paralyzing men of all sizes, that even women can do.

Yes you guessed it.

He kicked him in the groin.

Possibly shattering all the Illusions of hopes and dreams for future generations. Possibly even destroying the future 'Tawagoto descendants'.

But in all reality, Touma didn't care

"HMPH-!" Tawagoto suddenly went cross-legged and fell on his knees, with his eyes that looked like he was about to cry. Honest to goodness this scene looks like it was taken directly from one of the comics Touma reads. If the situation wasn't so serious, he would surely burst out laughing by now.

Touma gripped the metal bat in his hands and swung horizontally with all his might, aiming directly at Tawagoto's head.

 _*CLANG*_

 _*KRRK*_

 _*Thud*_

Those were the sounds of. One, the baseball bat making contact with the side of his jaw. Two, his jaw cracking, which hopefully signifies he's knocked the f*cked out. And three, his body falling limply on the ground.

He' actions surprised everyone who was present, the girl, the 2 other teenagers, heck he even surprised himself.

 _(Now's not the time to celebrate, There's still 2 left!)_ Touma turned to look in the direction of the remaining Espers.

"Youuuu DAMNED BRAT!"

"HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO HIM?!" Oh man do they seemed pissed as all hell.

 _(I need to come up with a plan quickly, or things will end badly for me at this rate.)_ Touma re-analysed the remaining 2 to determine his next course of action. _(Telekinetic and Strength Amplifier, just my luck, a close range AND a long range Esper. The Telekinetic is the more problematic one out of the two, if I can take him out first it should be fairly easy to take out the other guy. Seriously, Can this get any worse?)_

As he thought that, Kansui, picked up a metal pipe and seemed to be 'amplifying' it to make it even stronger. While Shiri, the Telekinetic, started picking up the trash cans and other useless junk behind him, getting ready to use them as ammunition.

 _(Here they come.)_ Touma mentally sighed to himself, readying himself for what's to come.

Before they started fighting, Touma slowly shuffled his way towards Ruiko. "Hey, can you stand?" He said in a low voice without turning his head.

"E-eh?" The girl was surprised at the sudden question.

"Can you stand?" He repeated.

"A-ah, no, my legs hurt too much. B-but why?" There was an obvious swelling in the lower portions of her legs.

"We need to get out of here. Even if we can't get away, it wouldn't be a good idea to fight in a narrow alleyway filled with trash." Touma's instincts started to scream at him that he would surely lose if he were to fight in such a secluded area.

"B-but... E-eep!" Before she could finish her statement, Touma picked her up from the ground and carried her in a bridal position.

"No time to complain! Let's go!" Touma was forced to drop his baseball bat to pick her up, but the expression he wore showed that he didn't really think too much about it.

His expression was that of a carefree kid that doesn't give a single care of the world around him, you could clearly see the playful grin on his face and the glint of excitement in his eyes. Ruiko, on the other hand, was furiously blushing, with a shade of crimson on her face that could be seen clear as day.

"Hey! Where the hell do you think your going?!" A visible steam out of pure frustration could be seen coming out of their ears.

"Come back here so we could beat your ass!"

"How many people do you idiots think would actually stop when they're being threatened by the people chasing them!" Touma started running in the other direction, away from the 2 Espers, and the currently knocked out Tawagoto.

"Let's go after them Shiri-san!" The 'amplifier' guy suggested to his other friend.

"But what about Tawagoto-san?"

"He'll wake up soon, first we need to punish those damned brats for humiliating us!" They agreed to their next course of action, and gave chase.

While running away from the other two, Touma remembered something important.

"Oh, by the way, I never got your name. My name's Kamijou Touma, nice to meetcha'!" Touma flashed a heart warming smile that could calm down anyone he meets, even in such a dangerous position they are currently in.

"M-my name... Ruiko." She muttered the last part under her breath.

"Hm? Sorry, I didn't catch that."

"S-Saten Ruiko. T-that's my name. T-thank you, for saving me."

"Don't thank me yet!" Trash started to fly by Touma. By the looks of it the Telekinetic, Shiri, started throwing trash at them to either; hit them, or atlest slow them down. They would be in a dangerous if he could properly aim though, thank goodness he sucks.

"Get back her you bastard!"

"Let's get outta here first!" Touma then rounded the corner and entered yet another labyrinth of alleyways to try and get away from them.

 **== Scene 2 ==**

The sun was shining, and not a single cloud in the air. It's the perfect day to hang out with her friends!

She was Misaka Mikoto, she was in one of the many automatic buses of AC. This particular bus was heading to one of the largest parks in district 13.

Just awhile ago, She and Touma made a bet. The bet was 'whoever is the last one arrive, buys the winner ice cream', the moment she heard that the prize was ice cream, she immediately ran off and got into the but that was heading to her destination.

 _(Since I took the bus while Touma is forced to run all the way there, my victory is assured!)_ She stood up from her seat, pumping her right fist in the air, while striking a cute pose with a wide cat like grin on her face _(The ice cram will be mine! Mwa ha ha ha!)_

5 minutes later, Mikoto arrived at the park and got off the bus. When she entered the park, she saw her group of friends and greeted them. "Hi guys! Sorry I'm late!"

"Sup Mikoto, where's Touma?" The boy was about the same age as Touma, he had brown hair and brown eyes, he was wearing a black shirt w/ a blue denim jacket over, and was wearing gray short's. His name is Amagiri Hayato Level Two Particle Manipulation, he had the ability to loosen or tighten the particles of object, but still lacks control over it. He can make water into jelly like material, and he can make solid objects like books into something muddy.

By manipulating the particles of the objects he comes into contact with, he can destabilize the objects targeted at him and make oarge heavy objects feel like mud is being thrown at him. Though there are some circumstance where his ability would be ineffective, for example, he can't dissolve a bullet simply because it moves to fast. It would pierce through his body before he manages to loosen the particles holding it together.

Hayato is something like the 'Big Brother' in the group, he would protect us from harm, and lecture us when we do something stupid. He's both smart and good at sports, he's very responsible. We never could understand why he would spend time with annoying people like us. Whenever we would ask, all he would say is "You guys are my family, and that's the only reason I need to watch over you guys."

"Hayato's right, I still need to punish him for hanging up on me like that!" She was about 11 years old, she had long dark brown hair tied in a ponytail and almond eyes, she was wearing a green sweater and blue pants. Her name was Nadeshiko Saya Level One Powered Body. While using the adrenaline within her body, she can utilize it to increase her strength.

It is said that once her ability is fully developed, she would be able to increase her speed, agility, flexibility, and power as well. And possiblt even speed up the process of regeneration as well.

Besides Touma and Hayato, Saya is the best among us in sports. She's hard working, and always seem like she's brimming with energy. She's also fairly popular in school as well. The only downside is that, she easily gets angry. And when she's angry, She. Is. Scary. The only ones who could calm her down is either Hayato, Mikoto, or Yuuna

"Ehehehe, sorry. Me and Touma made a bet that, whoever arrived last would buy the winner ice cream."

"And? I'm pretty sure Touma would've won against you in a race Miko, so where is he?" Saya inquired Mikoto on the whereabouts of Touma.

"Well... I took the bus on the way here, while Touma was forced to run." Mikoto said sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head

"Of course you did." She slapped her hand over her forehead As she remembered that this girl in front of her loves her ice cream. Oh, and Gekota as well, ice cream and Gekota.

"So you cheated? Niiiiiiicccceeede one Mikoto!" A boy, around 12 years old, gave Mikoto thumbs up. He had dark blue hair and blue eyes, he was wearing a blue button up shirt and black shorts. He was Kazumaki Aoi Level One AIM Radar, his ability is a rare form of clairvoyance.

He can analyze AIM field of any individual, and would be able to locate them as long as they are within 50 meters in radius of him. The only problem is, when he analyzes an individual's AIM field. He has to get close and personal, and sniff their entire body, just to get a proper read of their AIM field.

In the group of friends, you can say he's the friendliest out of all of them. He usually doesn't take things seriously, and ends up with failing grades. The only reason why he's still in middle school and hasn't repeated a year yet, is all thanks to Hayato.

"I didn't cheat! Nobody said that we weren't allowed to take the bus." Mikoto complained as she puffed her cheeks.

"I didn't say that it was bad to cheat. I'm just saying you won, and now you can have a butt load of ice cream! Imagine, a land of ice cream, with different types of favors to choose from." Aoi started talking about the wonders of ice cream to Mikoto.

"A land of ice cream?"

"Yes Mikoto! A land of ice cream, and Gekota! You can have Touma buy you all the Gekota he can, till he runs out of cash." he muttered that last part under his breath.

"Ahhhh~~, I can imagine it now. A land of ice cream and dancing Gekotas!" At this point, Mikoto started to drool and if were to examine her eyes, they would surely see stars.

"Aoi! You shouldn't give Touma any trouble!" A girl with braided black hair reprimanded Aoi. She was about 12 years old, she has black eyes with glasses, she is wearing a green shirt with cute flower design and a frilly white skirt. She is Adonai Yuuna Level One Nature's Touch, she has the power to rapidly increase the growth of any plant she comes into contact with and bend it to her will.

So far, she is only able to use her ability on grass and flowers, and use them to temporarily bind their target. If she could master her ability to atleast Level 3, she would be able to grow trees and bend it to her will and either use it as a weapon or as a shield.

Despite her friendly demeanor, Yuuna is usually shy around those she doesn't know and ends up tripping on her own words. But she is extremely intelligent despite her age, it is said that if she wished, she could be studying Third year level of Middle school. Her hobby is that she loves nature, hence her ability, and would spend her free time either playing with her friend or planting/studying plants. It is hypothesized that, once she gains proper control of her power, she would reach the power that of a level 4.

"Eh? Why not?"

"Because we all know for a fact that Touma doesn't have a lot of cash, your just making it worse for him by giving the idea to Mikoto that he would buy as much ice cream that she wants!"

"Calm down Yuuna! It was just a joke!"

"So 'sniff' Touma won't buy me a land of ice cream 'sniff' and gekoto?" Both, Aoi and Yuuna, turned towards Mikoto only to see that she's on the verge of crying at the fact that she won't get gekota.

"Look what you did Aoi, you made her cry." Saya interjected and blamed everything on Aoi.

"MY FAULT?!" He pointed at himself in disbelief.

Hayato approached Aoi, placed a hand on his shoulder and said "Aoi, seems like we need to talk, come with me." He then proceeded to drag Aoi away from the park and gave him a lecture about how to treat girls, and that it is bad to give them false hope.

Yuuna started flailing their hands in the air "Ahhh, calm down Mikoto! We'll buy you as much ice cream and gekota you want just please don't cry!"

"Really" Mikoto started to look at Yuuna

 _(Ahhhh, She looks like a kitten! SO CUTE!)_ "Really, so don't worry about it, ok?"

"Ok!" Yuuna smiled at her response.

 _Buzz! Buzz!_

"Hm? What was that?" Saya asked Yuuna.

"I don't know."

"Ah! Sorry it was my phone." Mikoto pulled out a cute looking gekota phone. "Hmm? It's Touma."

"Touma? Why is he calling you?" Yuuna looked closely at Mikoto's cellphone as if she was inspecting it

"Dunno" As Mikoto answered the phone, the two boys came back from the short lecture.

When Hayato approached Yuuna, he asked "Did anything happen while we were gone?"

"Yea, Touma called" she replied

"Do you know the reason why?" Aoi inquired.

"Nope"

"Hey Mikoto! Put it on loud speaker so we can all hear."

"Okay!" Mikoto then placed it on loud speaker so that everyone can hear. "Touma! Where are you?"

"..." No response.

"Touma! Can you hear me? Hello!"

"..." Still no response.

"Maybe he doesn't have much signal?" Aoi suggested

"Where would he be if he has no signal? He should be heading here by now right?" Saya asked the others.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Hayato couldn't quite put a finger in it, but he felt something's not right.

"What do you mean?" Yuuna asked, and the others looked at Hayato.

"I'm not sure."

"Wait do you hear that?" Everyone leaned forward towards the phone to listen closely.

 _"... Don't you guys feel ashamed of yourself?! For assaulting a young girl that's about 10 years old! Where's your dignity as a human being!"_

"What's going on?"

"Is Touma in danger?"

"Seems like Touma's trying to save someone, yet again." Aoi simply stated and chuckled a bit.

"Shhh, be quiet. He's still speaking." Hayato hushed everyone so he could listen to the conversation carefully.

 _"...You were just... bored? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! So what, your saying that you'll hunt down, us Lower Levels and corner us in alley ways for FUN?!"_

"He's in an alleyway, probably somewhere around here." Saya said to the others.

Hayato turned towards Aoi and asked "Aoi can you see if you can track him?"

"Sure, gimme a moment." Aoi then stood up and concentrated, he was checking for a familiar 'scent' ,besides his other friends, that's within the range of his radar. "Found Him, he's that way." He pointed towards one of the empty alleyways on the other side of the street.

 _"THEN I'LL HAVE TO SHATTER THAT MESSED UP ILLUSION OF YOURS!...(Click)"_ The line went dead.

"Seems like Touma started fighting whoever that was." Yuuna said with a stern face.

Mikoto, on the other hand, was filled with worry over her friend. "We need to help him!"

"Mikoto's right." Hayato gestured towards his other friends to come over "We need to find Touma and help him, by what we heard on the phone call, the person Touma was protecting was injured. This is how we're gonna do it. Once we arrive, Me, Mikoto, and Saya will help Touma fight. While Yuuna and Aoi will be watching over the one Touma was trying to protect. Aoi, you have the most important job, lead us to Touma before he gets hurt. Are we clear?"

"Yes" Everyone responded in unison

"Good lets go." But before they could leave, a girl that was about 10 years old, approached them. It seems like she was crying.

"E-excuse 'sniff' excuse me. C-can you 'sniff' can you please help my friend?" She had short black hair, with what seems to be like a miniature garden (?) on her headband, she had black eyes, and was wearing a white shirt and black skirt.

"Hayato, what should we-" Before Saya finished her sentence, Hayato approached the girl.

"What's wrong?"

"M-my friend, she 'sniff' was being bullied by espers 'sniff', she did nothing wrong. She was forced to run into a alleyway, and then 'sniff' I lost her." She couldn't keep her tears from overflowing, so she let it all out.

 _(Bullied by espers, and she went into an alleyway? I wonder...)_ "Y'know, my friend is also being bullied right now, and we we're planning on saving him. If I'm not mistaken, your friend is currently with him as well. What do you say? Want to come with us to find your friend?" Hayato wasn't sure wether or not he was correct on his assumption. But, like Touma, he couldn't bear to watch little kids cry.

"Yes 'sniff'. Yes! I want to go and help my friend!" The girl wanted to help, she wanted to help save her friend who has been suffering for so long.

"That's good, that's some nice attitude you got there kid. What's your name?" Hayato inquired.

"My name is Uiharu Kazari."

 **== Scene 3 ==**

"Come back here you bastard!"

Touma's been running for about 15 minutes by now. Usually he wouldn't even be tired, especially with all the adrenaline in his body. But the fact that he was carrying someone while being forced to dodge flying trash heading his way, made it pretty hard for him to not feel tired.

Right before Touma turned around the corner, his instincts started yelling at him to get down. He didn't hesitate to drop down, nearly dropping Ruiko in result, but managing to dodge a cleaning robot being thrown at him. "A cleaning robot? Seriously?!"

 **"DANGER! DANGER! VANDALISM OF ACADEMY CITY'S UTILITIES! CONTACTING JUDGEMENT!"** The cleaning robot that Shiri thrown, started to sending loud screeching noises. Possibly to incapacitate the violators, but for Touma, he made use of this chance to slip out of the sight.

Even if he did get caught, and was forced to fight them. If he could last till Judgement arrives, they would be safe.

As Touma rounded yet another corner, he came up a dead end.

"A dead end?! Seriously?! Fukou Da." Just when he was about to turn and run, the 2 Espers were already there blocking the way.

"You got no where to run you damned brat." Kansui scowled as he started to walk towards Touma, with an iron pipe in his right hand.

"Just accept your punishment already! Your nothing but trash, and thats all you'll ever be." Shiri started picking up the trash behind him, getting ready to throw it at Touma and Ruiko.

"Can't we all just get along?" Touma tried avoiding any unnecessary trouble.

"And why the hell would we do that?!" They said in unison.

 _(Od course not. Fukoud Da.)_ At first Touma looked crestfallen, due to being unable to avoid yet another fight.

But he didn't let it get to him. Touma stared at them with a stern face, he then slowly walked towards the wall and set Ruiko down.

"E-eh? What're you gonna do?" Ruiko was worried for Touma because he might get hurt if he does something careless.

"Listen to me Saten-san, I'm going to go and fight them, so I need you to stay here. Alright?"

"B-but-?"

"No buts Saten-san." Touma looked at her in the eye, and then softened his gaze and smiled at her when he realized Ruiko must've felt uncomfortable. "Trust me."

Ruiko didn't want him to go, she didn't want him to get hurt for his sake. But... "Ok. I trust you, so pleace be careful."

"Who do you think your talking to?" He smirked at her, then he stood up and turned to the other 2.

"Kamijou-san!" Touma turned around when he realized that she used his name. "Good luck" she said with a slight smile tugging at her lips.

Touma nodded and turned to face his foes yet again. "Sorry guys, seems like I have to kick your ass."

"Don't get too cocky kid, trust me, you'll regret it" Kansui scoffed at him.

"Is this from experience or are you all talk? Touma shot back

"What did you say?!"

"Seems like it was all talk, don't worry, you'll experience it soon enough yourself" Touma challenged Kansui with the hopes of pissing him off _(Rule #23 of street fighting, angry opponents tend to lose the ability to properly assess the situation. Hence making them an easy target.)_

"Why I oughta-!" Before he could finish the sentence, Touma socked him in the jaw. It was accompanied with the sound a glass shattering. It seemed like he ended up biting his tongue by the looks of it, since blood was coming out of his mouth as he held as if he was in pain.

"What's wrong? Bit your tongue? How sad." This time, it was Touma's turn to scoff at them.

"You bastard how dare you to that to him! That's not fair!" Shiri yelled at him, clearly angry, as he picked up 'ammunition' *cough* trash *cough* from behind him.

"Well I'm pretty sure a 2 vs 1 is already not fair for me, plus, both of you guys are high levels aren't you. If you ask me, that in itself is not fair." Touma retorted back at him.

"Shut up you bastard!" Shiri proceeded to throw his 'ammunition' at Touma. Despite the objects of all sizes are being hurdled in his direction, Touma was totally calm.

 _(There's at trick in handling Telekinetics)_ He thought to himself as he was dodging everything that was coming his way, from bricks, to trash, to trash cans, and even cleaning robots (?!) _(Where the hell did that come from? Nevermind. The trick to handle Telekinetics like him is simple)_

"Stop dodging you bastard!" Shiri stretched his hand to his back to 'pick up' the trash behind him so he could throw it at Touma, but there was a slight problem. "Huh?" There was no more trash behind him "Oh Sh*t"

 _(The trick in handling Telekinetics is to wait for them to run out of things throw and they'll be vulnerable!)_ Touma didn't waste the opportunity, he dashed towards Shiri, who was reaching for something in his right pocket. Before Shiri had the chance to take out whatever it was he was reaching for, Touma punched him in the gut. Shiri then lurched over in pain and felt Touma's fist made contact with his jaw as he upper-cutted Shiri.

He then fell backwards on the ground still in a daze. He was kicked in the face by Touma, temporarily knocking him out.

Ruiko could only watch in awe at Touma who's totally kicking their ass, even though he himself is a Level 0. "So cool..."

 _(Right! I can do this!_ _)_ Touma then turned towards Kansui who seems like he was pissed at Touma for what he did earlier.

"Youth bathardh! Dhow dhare youh dho dhis dto meh?!" He started shouting at Touma, who clearly didn't understand anything he just said.

"What did you say?" Touma was genuinely curious on what he said, cause all he heard was jibberish.

"I'll khill youh" Kansui started 'amplifying' his arms as they grow and ended up ripping the sleeves of his clothes "Mah Clodes! Lhook ath whath youh dhone!"

'Hey! It's not my fault for ripping your clothes! It was all your fault alright! It was your fault!" Somehow, Touma managed to understand the last segment of Kansui's words.

"Shath up!" He then charged at Touma pulling back his right fist preparing to punch Touma. Touma managed to dodge his fist in time by strafing to the left and punched him in the chest, which didn't faze him at all. Kansui then brought down his left fist towards Touma. Touma rolled to the side to dodge the attack and this time aimed his right fist at the left arm of Kansui. When it made contact, the sound of glass shattering resounded across the alleyway, and then both of Kansui's arms returned to normal.

"Wha?!" Kansui was totally surprised at the sudden occurrence of him losing his ability for a split second.

Touma then ran his fist towards the face of Kansui, he then fell back on his back holding his face.

All he had to do was knock him unconscious, that's all he had to do.

So he picked up the iron pipe and raised it above his head, he swung it down verti-.

"Watch out!" Ruiko shouted a Touma, but it was too late.

Before Touma could react, a **fireball** shot at him from the side. "AGHHHHHHHHH" He shouted as he clenched his teeth and held his side, which was badly burnt.

When Touma looked in the direction of where he saw the fireball come from, he saw a familiar bastard coming his way. "I finally caught up with you, you damned bastard!" It was Tawagoto, the one who Touma possibly prevented his family tree line from expanding. He had a bruise on the side of his jaw on where Touma whacked the sh*t out of him with a baseball bat.

 _(Really Touma?! That was Rule #2! NEVER let your guard down in a fight!)_ As Touma groaned while laying on the ground "So what happened to your eggs? Sunny side or scrambled? Touma couldn't help but scoff at him. _(Oh God, I've been around Aoi too much for my own good)_

 ** _Somewhere in the labyrinth of alleyways, someone with the name of 'Aoi' sneezed_**

Oh boy was Tawagoto's reaction priceless. He was red in anger and also a visible vein was throbbing on his head, he even winced at remembering it and held his crotch as if to check it was still there. "You'll pay for that you bastard!"

He then shot yet another fireball at Touma, he tried to negate it but his Imagine Breaker didn't make it in time. "AGHHHHH" Touma winced in pain as his body was burnt all over. Worst part, out of the corner of his eyes he could see the other 2 getting back up _(Oh this could be bad)_

Shiri walked up towards Tawagoto and asked "Tawagoto-san! Are you all right?!"

"I'm perfectly fine Shiri-san, but more importantly, what happen to him" He then gestured towards Kansui who was holding his mouth in pain as blood started dripping out of the corner of his mouth.

"He ended up biting his own tongue because he," He pointed a Touma "Punched him while he was still talking. By the way, what should we do with him?"

Tawagoto eyed Touma as if daring him to move and simply said "You guys probably want your revenge right? Go on, let him have it!"

By the looks of it, Touma is screwed. He can't move his body, Shiri and Kansui are eyeing as if they were kids being told they can play with their toys with sadistic grins on their faces. Kansui then proceeded to 'amplify' his arms and feet as he kicked Touma in the gut multiple times, and then he picked him up with one arm and started punching Touma in the face and the gut over and over again.

"Please Stop! He did nothing wrong!" He could hear Ruiko pleading them to stop beating Touma up.

"He did nothing wrong? That's where your wrong little girly. Trash like him decided to oppose us 'humans'. We have every right to punish him." Tawagoto simply stated easily as if he was stating how was the weather.

"Kansui-san! Hold him up for me! I want to practice my aim." Kansui simply nodded and lifted Touma up in the air, and then Shiri just grabbed the trash behind him and started throwing it at Touma. At first it was bearable, that was until he threw a freaking cleaning robot at him

 _"_ Gwahh-?!" Touma started coughing furiously at the sudden impact _(What the F*ck?! Seriously?!)_

"KAMIJOU-SAN!? PLEASE STOP!" Ruiko begged them to stop hurting him

"Hmm, should we really stop? What do you think Shiri-san?" Tawagoto asked Shiri for his opinion.

"Of course not! We should discipline this piece of trash that he shouldn't try and mess with the 'Strong'."

"Hmm, that's right, we need to show them that no matter what they do, it is utterly _impossible_ for the likes of him to win against us."

"Yeah! that's right!" Shiri said as he threw a trash bin at Touma.

Tawagoto then placed his hand on his chin, as if he was thinking over something. "Shiri-san, Kansui-san, I think we should stop for now. If we we're to continue, we might end up killing him, and besides." He then turned his gaze over to Ruiko. "We still have to punish yet another piece of trash don't you think?"

"Sure Tawagoto-san, you can drop that now Kansui-san." Kansui then dropped Touma and turned towards Ruiko.

Touma flipped over on his back and saw something that made his blood boil, he saw Ruiko shaking in fear. Fear of what they might do to her, fear of not knowing of what they will do to her. Even from his position, he could clearly see the tears that threaten to spill from Ruiko's eyes. He hated it. Hated the fact that he can't do anything, hated his own weakness. His body was in pain. He couldn't move a single limb. But so what? Will he really just lay there? Will Kamijou Touma really just lay there on the ground like a piece of trash, as he watch the girl he was trying to protect shed those very tears he was trying to stop? Of course not.

They were probably right, it'd be nearly impossible for Touma to defeat those three. Nobody would blame him if he ran, heck, people would praise him for just trying to help. Even if he doesn't, nobody would scorn him, after all, what can a Level 0 do? Nothing. Absolutely Nothing. There is no way a kid like him could take them on, and they're High Level Espers at that. It was useless.

But so what? So what if it was useless? He didn't care about that. About Levels, about being weak, about being trash. Because if it means people with good hearts are known as trash, then call him trash, he didn't care. If he was trash, then what would the people who discriminate, and beat others be? Lower than trash.

If people think that having power means they are omnipotent, and they say it's because they are 'strong'. Then they're horribly wrong, they don't know the true meaning of strength. True strength isn't about how powerful, how talented or how smart you are. True strength isn't about the amount of friends you have, or how much money you were born with, the definition of trash or talented doesn't mean jack shit. Your background or your personality doesn't matter either. What matters is your 'reason' for using that power.

For what 'reason' do you fight for? Is it for unimaginable riches? No? What about being known throughout the whole world? That's not it either. What about unparalleled power?

If one were to fight for such petty desires, then they have no right to call themselves strong. Especially if they're only greedy pigs of society.

The reason this boy fights is far simpler, but yet, something so beautiful. He fights to live in a world of peace, a world where everyone can get along and live a happy life, it's probably just a pipe dream, but who cares. If it's a happy life for himself, then he already has it, and yet he still fights for those who does not have a chance to live in the type of world he lives him. He fights for the smiles of those around him.

Yes. That is the reason why Kamijou Touma will continue to fight. Why he refuses to stay down on the ground, and always stand up for those who are crying out for help.

He's body is aching all over, and he can barely move on his own. Right now, he's every action is just based off of his will power. He slowly pushed himself off of the ground and placed his hands on the cleaning robot that was thrown at him so that he could use it as a support. Ruiko watched the scene in front of her. She was flabbergasted.

"W-why? Why do you still want to help me?! Y-your hurt because of me!" she said, as the others turned towards the direction she was staring at, and they stared at the scene in front of them in total disbelief

Slowly, but surely, Touma stood up from where he lies. Despite the stinging sensation coming from his entire body, Kamijou Touma refuses to stay down, and slowly made his way towards Ruiko, and walked past the flabbergasted teenagers.

"I-it's all... It's all my fault. It's all my fault for getting you dragged into this! Now look at you! Your badly hurt... So please... Just get out of-" Before she could finished her sentence, she felt a warm sensation on her head.

Touma faced Ruiko and placed his right hand on her head, gave her reassuring smile, and repeated his words that he said to her when they first met "Don't worry Saten-san. I WILL protect you." Beaten, bruised, and swollen all over. He stands firm in between the little girl and her abusers.

"Che, Tawagoto-san what do we do about him?" Shiri asked on what to do in this situation.

"he...hehe..."

"Tawagoto-san?"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" Tawagoto placed a hand on his forehead and bobbed his head up and started laughing like a madman.

"Thawagotho-san?! Are you okay?" Kansui worriedly asked if he was ok or not.

"Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you guys...hahaha... Your pretty interesting kid, you know that?"

"Is that supposed to be a compliment coming from a madman?" Touma shot back.

"Come on, don't be like that. You should be honoured for being complimented by me." Tawagoto stretched out his right hand and said. "Say, I like you kid, you and that ballsy attitude of yours would come in handy in the future. What do you say, if you come with me and become my lackey, I'll train you personally."

Touma looked disgusted at the offer and said playfully "Y'know, I think eating fresh dog sh*t would be better than taking than work as one of your lackeys."

Tawagoto could feel the blood in his head rise and a vein throb as he got pissed at his words "Kansui-san, grab him so I could beat him senseless. Shiri-san, give me that iron pipe over there and help Kansui grab hold of the kid."

Both of them did as they were told.

Kansui rushed Touma and tried to tackle him to the ground. Thankfully, Touma's body is pretty small so he was able to sidestep pretty easily. He then stretched out his foot in front of him. Kansui ended up tripping because his foot got stuck on Touma's and the sudden shift of balance made him unable to support his body mass and ended up crashing into the wall.

Touma felt something was approaching from behind him, and so he dropped to the ground. In result, he managed to escape a burning into a crisp by Tawagoto's Fireball. He then proceeded to swing vertically aiming for Touma's left shoulder. Touma managed to roll to the side before the attack hit and sprung to his feet. Tawagoto then launched another fireball in Touma's direction, but before it could hit, he slapped it away with his right hand. Leaving a the sound of glass shattering in the area. This act surprised Tawagoto, leaving him vulnerable for atleast a second. Touma didn't let it go waste, he managed to land a hit with a right hook in Tawagoto's face right where Touma originally hit him with the metal bat. Tawagoto dropped the iron pipe and held his hands up to his face as he staggered backwards. He then grabbed the pipe and smashed it into the back of Tawagoto's right knee. He then fell onto his knees and shouted in pain.

 _(GOT HIM!)_

As Touma was about smash the pipe in the side of Tawagoto's head to knock him out, a brick came smashing right into his chest. In the heat of the moment, Touma momentarily forgot about the Telekinetic, and that was his mistake. Taking this chance, Kansui tackled Touma yet again, this time successful. As Touma felt solid concrete on his back and a stinging sensation on the back of his head, Kansui proceeded to pummel Touma to the ground.

"Bwaghhh?!" Touma couldn't even raise his hands to block the incoming attacks. _(GODD*MNIT! I CAN'T BELIEVE I LET DOWN MY GUARD AGAIN! IM SUCH AN IDIOT!)_

"Kamijou-san!" Ruiko stared in terror in what was occurring. No doubt does she think that it's her fault for something like this to happen.

"Y-you bastard! Kansui! Hold him by the arms!" Tawagoto shouted at his subordinate, which he did what he was told. Then he stood up from his position, picked up the pipe, and started walking towards Touma.

When he was right in front of him, boy did he look pissed. He swung the pipe to Touma's side, which made Touma wince in pain. Then, using his left hand, he grabbed Touma's hair and pulled it up so that Touma's eyes would meet his.

"Say, how does it feel. To not being able to do anything, to be absolutely worthless. To be the lowest of the low. I definitely don't know how it feels, because unlike you, I have worth to this city. You hear me?" Tawagoto brought his eye level down to Touma, they were so close that there noses were almost touching. "You are nothing but worthless pieces of-"

Moving his face so close to a boy like Touma, bad idea. Touma head butt Tawagoto square in the face, breaking his nose in result. Seems like having a hard head is a good thing.

"Gah-?! YOU BASTARD, HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME?!" He then proceeded to punch Touma in the gut, chest, and face.

Touma was bloody all over, he had bruises on his body like no other. Most of them were a dangerous color of purple, there were cuts on his face as well, and he had a black eye.

Ruiko couldn't handle it anymore. She couldn't watch Touma getting beaten just for her, she just couldn't. Someone so nice, and yet this is how the world treats them. "PLEASE STOP! I'LL DO ANYTHING YOU WANT, BUT PLEASE STOP HURTING HIM!"

"Huh? Oh yeah, you. I completely forgot about you." These simple words were enough to threaten to break the girl's fragile heart. "Oh... Hahahaha... I thought of a good idea. Shiri-san, Kansui-san help me out here." He, with the help of the other two, dragged Touma's limp body and held it up in front of the girl.

Ruiko was terrified, too terrified to ask, but she knew she had to. "W-w-what a-are you g-going to do to him?" Her voice trembled, she didn't want to know what was going to happen next.

"Hm? What am I going to do? Good question." Tawagoto smiled, a sadistic, sinister smile. It was so scary for Ruiko that it sent a shiver down her spine, she probably knew, this one scene will scar her for life. He then placed the end of the iron pipe on his left hand, and let out a flame. Not hot enough to melt it, but hot enough that if one were to stick it onto flesh it would definitely leave a mark. "Say, do you know what would happen, if I were to put this up on his face. Please do tell me, what do you think will happen?"

Ruiko's expression, if possible, turned more terrified than the one earlier. "PLEASE NOT HIM! IF YOUR GOING TO HURT SOMEONE, HURT ME! PLEASE!" She was yelling so loud that it felt like her throat would tear. Sadly, her words fell on deaf ears.

"Hold him up Kansui-san, I'm going to enjoy this. Now, watch closely girl, and remember. This is all **YOUR** fault. He is suffering because of **YOU**. If you just accepted your punishment, then none of this wouldn't have happened. Now, will you cry out for help? Will you cry for someone to save you? WELL?! WILL YOU?!" Tawagoto slowly neared the scorching hot iron pipe towards Touma's face.

With all the strength gone from his body. Touma slowly spoke to make sure she wouldn't blame herself "D... D-don't... D-don't worry... Saten-san... This.. is not... your fault..." But it only gave the opposite effect. Someone so nice and caring, even at the point of being badly wounded, cares more about **HER** wellbeing than anything else.

Something inside her broke, tears started spilling from her eyes like a waterfall. She couldn't let it end like this, not like this. So she started yelling "SOMEONE! ANYONE! PLEASE! PLEASE SAVE THIS BOY! SOMEONE! ANYONE! PLEASE SAVE HIM!"

"Ahh, do you hear that? The screams of the trash that doesn't deserve to be born. Remember this day little girlie, let this memory haunt you in your dreams for days to come." The pipe was dangerously close to Touma's face. So close that you could hear a slight sizzle as Touma wince in pain.

"SOMEONE PLEASE! ANYONE! I DON'T CARE IF I'M JUST TRASH! I DON'T CARE IF I GET HURT! I'LL DO ANYTHING! SO SOMEONE PLEASE! **SAVE HIM FROM THIS MISFORTUNE!"**

 _*Thud*_ '

Out of nowhere, to what seems like an 11 year old kid, with chestnut hair and chestnut eyes, clung onto Tawagoto.

She was Misaka Mikoto, Touma's childhood friend.

"DON'T YOU DARE HURT TOUMA!" Mikoto shouted in pure rage as she electrocuted Tawagoto with 15,000 volts of electricity.

"GWAWAWAWWAWA" Tawagoto dropped the iron pipe from his grip and started screaming in pain. After a couple of seconds, Miktoto, released Tawagato from his well deserved shock therapy. He staggered backwards as his whole body went numb from the sudden outburst of electricity flowing through his body.

"Tawagoto-san!" The 2 other Espers said in unison, running over towards Tawagoto, who is slightly smoking.

Then a group of kids came out of the corner of the alleyway and saw what was going on. Hayato was the first one to notice Touma "TOUMA!" He rushed towards Touma's side. The rest saw Touma, and had similar reactions as Hayato.

"Saten-san!" The girl with short hair ran towards Ruiko, who was currently injured and on the ground as well, and hugged her.

"Uiharu-san?" Ruiko was surprised by the sudden action.

"I was so worried for you! When they chased you through the alleyway, I was so scared that something might've happened to you. I'm so sorry, sorry that I couldn't help you." Uiharu started crying while holding onto Ruiko.

Ruiko was happy that someone was worried about her, then she remembered "It's okay Uiharu, but if that boy didn't save me." She gestured towards Touma "I would probably be badly injured by now."

"That boy?" Uiharu looked towards the horrible scene to see a badly injured boy who tried his very best to protect someone he didn't even know.

"Touma! Touma! Can you hear me! Touma!" He kept shouting over and over again. Everyone Uiharu came with, was huddled up together over that one boy.

"Haya... to" Touma could barely move, his body was too much in pain that it was hard for him to talk. "Y-you... came..."

"Of course we did you idiot! Why didn't you wait for us to arrive you dumbass?!" Hayato wanted to reprimand Touma for his actions, but he knew to well that he would never do such a thing if he wasn't trying to protect someone in need. "Yuuna! Call an ambulance or Judgement or anything! Just call them **NOW!** "

"Yes" Yuuna took out her phone from her side pocket and begun calling Judgement.

To Hayato's surprise, Touma slowly grabbed onto his arm with his bloody hand. "Ha.. yato... Please... protect... Saten-san..."

"What?"

"Why?" Ruiko asked, getting the attention of the others, including Touma. "Why are you so nice?! After everything that's been happening to you! It's all my fault! And yet! And yet...!" Her voice trailed off as tears started pouring out of her eyes, yet again.

"I... I don't... I don't need a reason... To protect someone... in need... S-so please... Saten-san... don't blame yourself..."

"But-!" Before she could protest, she was stopped. Not by Touma, but from Mikoto.

"Don't you dare let Touma's sacrifice go to waste!" She was pissed. Everyone was. Not at Ruiko, but at this whole situation. "Touma decided to protect you with his life! So don't you dare be sad! Touma would never save someone so they would cry, he would save someone so that they can continue being happy. So that they can make many happy moments in the future with their friends and family! So don't you DARE let his sacrifice go to waste!" Mikoto wanted to shout, yell, and even scream at her. But she knew that's not what Touma would want. So she decided against it. Tears were threatening to spill out of her eyes, but she held it in.

"She's right you know." Yuuna stared at Ruiko in the eye, not with a cold dead glare, but with sincere soft eyes. "Touma would always save people in need. So there is no need to blame yourself."

"And besides, Touma won't die from this. Knowing him, he would just walk it off the moment it gets treated. No matter what he would always be fine" Aoi said to try to lessen the tension in the air, which it did. Yuuna, and Saya giggled at the remark.

"Yea knowing him, he wouldn't want you to blame yourself for everything that's happened. So please, don't" Saya asked Ruiko this so that she wouldn't blame herself for all that's happened

"Also, there's something better to say than sorry in this situation don't you think?" Hayato told to Ruiko with a slight smirk.

Ruiko was speechless to say, she thought she would be yelled at for causing such injuries on their friend. But instead, she was told all these heart warming things. How could she not cry? Her tears fell yet again from her eyes. This time, not in sorrow or fear, but in happiness. "T-thank you... Thank you so much for saving me!" For once that day, Ruiko had a genuine smile on her face.

"... Y-you... don't... have to... thank me..." All energy left his body, and he fell unconscious.

"That's right, you could rest now Touma. Leave the rest to us." At that note, Hayato left Touma to Yuuna and Aoi's care. He then tuned towards Mikoto and Saya, and they simply nodded in response

Tawagoto, on the other hand, recovered from his well deserved shock therapy . "You damned brats! How dare you do that to Me!" Tawagoto snarled at them.

At that moment, Hayato slowly stood up from his crouched position, and slowly turned his head towards Shiri and said "How dare we...? No, no, no, that's where your wrong. HOW DARE YOU HARM OUR FRIENDS YOU DAMNED BASTARDS?!" Hayato was downright pissed off. He pointed at Tawagoto and said "He's mine. Saya, Mikoto, you guys handle the other two."

They nodded in response and went to their own respective battles.

 **== Author's Notes ==**

 **Hey guys, next chapter would be focused on how the abilities of Touma's friends work, also a couple of scenes after that.**

 **Also guys, a quick reminder, if you guys have any suggestions, then please. I would be more than willing to accept any possible OC characters or abilities. It would be very appreciated.**

 **Thank you guys for reading so far, and see you all in the next chapter**


	3. The Strength of the Weak

**Hey guys! Welcome back! Quick announcement, I kinda reposted the second chapter of 'The Meaning of Strength' because; One, wrong grammar and misspelled words, and Two, the comment of 'Guest' was correct about Mikoto being able to emit 75,000 volts of electricity, is just waaaayyy too strong. So what I did was, I made her power only able to emit 10,000 volts of electricity, and 15,000 volts if she were to push herself to the limit. Also, Tawagoto is conscious simply because 15,000 volts wasn't enough to knock someone like him unconscious, but he is stunned and his body is all numb.**

 **Please forgive me guys for my blunders, and please point out any mistakes I may have made.**

 **Guest: The reason why I didn't choose Level 3 Auto-Rebirth is because, the group of Touma are supposed to start out as lower level, and also since you said to make Saya have like a deadpool fighting style I chose 'Powered Body'. Since Saya is a 11 year old girl, I can't just say she can easily beat the sh*t out of High Level Espers because a girl her age wouldn't even be able to do much harm to people older than her, let alone Espers. That's why I chose that ability, to give her the Strength, Speed, Power, Agility, and Flexibility of Deadpool. Especially when she starts to level up in the future**

 **And for your second comment, it was my own fault for not researching properly, especially on how much a Low Level can actually do. So please forgive me for my inexperience on writing stories such as this one, after all it is my very first. But don't worry bud, I managed to fix it to make things proper, but in result the bastard Tawagoto is still conscious and that, he is the one who will fight Hayato instead of Shiri.**

 **toumakamijou298: Thanks man! It's nice to know that there are some people out there who like my story like you do. The thing about Aoi being able to locate Touma is actually something I'll explain in the future chapters regarding Toumas' Imagine Breaker, so for now I can't tell you. Anyway I promise I'll do the best of my abilities to continue on with this story and hopefully make it good.**

 **Anyway guys, thank you for reading this far. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter.**

 **Let's get this thing started.**

 **== Scene 1 ==**

 **Hayato**

Hayato faced off his opponent, an Esper named Tawagoto. He knew him. Tawagoto was a well-known Esper in Yashimoto Academy, an academy for rich kids. Yashimoto Academy is known for being a High School for the so called 'elites' which only takes in Level 3 and above Espers. It's kinda similar to the Famous Tokiwadai except for the fact that most students of Yashimoto Academy are undeniably pricks. This here is a fact. Proof? There's a fine example in front him.

Tawagoto, He was known for his ruthless attitude towards Lower Level Espers and would use them for his own personal use. He would enforce his rule over them with his power by burning all those who would oppose or disobey him.

Hayato knew all this because on his free time when he's not hanging out with his friends, he would indulge himself in finding information on Espers who would misuse their powers and harm those who are Lower Levels simply for 'fun'. So that he will know who he and his friends should avoid. And Tawagoto was just one of the names on that list.

The ones he should be more worried about are people like "Nightmare" or even "Afterburner" and several others.

If he can't avoid them and he'll be forced to fight them, having information on their Esper abilities and their battle styles would come in handy.

The only problem was that he was only a Level 2. He needed more power so that he could protect his friends from them. So that they could continue their lives in peace and away from harm. But he knew conflict with them was inevitable, especially with someone like Touma who would risk his life to protect others in need. That's why he needed a way to Level up quickly, to prepare to face such demons. Though he didn't think it would happen so soon.

Sure, he was lucky that it was just a person like Tawagoto and not the aforementioned "Afterburner". But that's not the point, the point is that he still didn't have enough power to face him, he was still too weak. How Touma was able to fight them was beyond him.

It was a good thing that Mikoto was able to numb his senses with her shock therapy recently, or else he would have some troubles facing him head-on.

But if it meant he would be able to protect those he cares about, he would do it in a heart-beat. After all, Hayato would never sully his title, not because he wanted to keep face, but because he would do anything for his friends.

He was the complete opposite of Tawagoto. He's a middle school Esper known for his generosity in helping other people either from the smallest of things like helping people study, to protecting those being bullied. He is the perfect 'Big Brother' model in the school, he has the looks, he's smart, and he's good at sports.

Because of these traits, he is the most popular person at school with the title of "The Prince of Sakugawa". Apparently, Hayato was the first and only person who bears a title at Sakugawa middle school

In retrospect, Touma wasn't the most well-known person at school otherwise he would probably be known for his selflessness in saving others without care of his own wellbeing. Heck, he might even be titled "Sakugawa's White Knight" or something like that.

There was one main thing that differentiates Touma from Hayato besides the grades and the looks. Touma would protect ANYONE in need and would give his heart and soul just to make sure the people around him are safe, but would never put others in danger while doing so. Even if it means he gets hurt for it.

Hayato, on the other hand, would be willing to do ANYTHING to protect the people he cares about. Even If the people around him gets hurt, he wouldn't mind as long as his friends are safe. A true Prince who would do anything to protect his subordinates, even if it means there will be sacrifices. Heh, yeah right.

Some Prince he is, look at what happened.

Touma's badly injured from these…. Assh*les, while trying to protect this girl. Saten-san was her name, right? Anyway, he was proud for his actions and all, but that was far too reckless of him. Touma should've waited for the others before he tried to fight them. He should've waited…

No. That's wrong, this isn't Touma's fault.

It was his fault. He should've prepared for a moment like this. Should have thought about a counter-measure to avoid situations like 'these', to protect those dear to him. But now is not the time to be standing around here doing nothing. He needs to prepare himself for what's to come.

Hayato glared at the enemy in front of him, while clenching the baseball bat in his hand. Yes, it was the same bat that was used to knock out Tawagoto about 20 minutes ago. It was Touma's bat.

While searching for Touma, Hayato found it on the ground at one of the paths he and the others went to. And assumed it was Touma's and that it might come in handy, so he took it.

Blue light started to glow around the metal bat in his hands. Hayato was 'tightening' the particles of the metal bat, making it shrink by 10 inches. But in result, it made the baseball bat sturdier making it more difficult to melt even under the heat of 1000 degrees Celsius, and now it even packs a punch which in return makes it quite painful if you were to get hit by it.

"You done with your tinkering already you damned brat?" Tawagoto was sending Hayato a cold intense glare that technically states 'I'm going to enjoy kicking your ass'.

Hayato wasn't having any of that. He needed to finish him off quick, if Tawagoto manages to regain his senses before that. Things could go from bad to worse really quick. So he charged at Tawagoto and aimed at his side.

Before he could react, Tawagoto was hit in his side and fell over in pain "Gwah?!" For some reason, the force was so strong that it felt like he was hit in the side by a brute carrying a stun baton as his choice of weapon. It was just too strong for the attack to come from a middle school like him. Hayato then raised his bat in the air and struck at him vertically. Though this time, Tawagoto was able to roll out of the way and sent a fireball his way.

Hayato managed to dodge to the side, he could feel the heat burn his skin slightly as it passes by his body _(Holy-! That was about 500 degrees! Is he trying to turn me into the very first human steak or something?!)_ He then dodged another fireball that was sent his way on pure instict, snapping his attention back to reality.

As Hayato was trying to calm himself so he could assess the situation properly. Tawagoto picked up the same iron pipe he tried to use on Touma and heated it up with a flame burning up to 750 degrees Celsius making it a VERY dangerous weapon. Should it manage to land a hit on Hayato, it would do more than just burn him, it would most likely leave a nasty burn mark.

So he backed away as he saw Tawagoto charge at him with it. He would try to strike Hayato left and right as he barely manages to either dodge or block each strike with the metal bat. The only reason why he was on the defensive was because it would be too reckless if he would just try to attack Tawagoto without a plan, so he was waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.

The problem was, even though this guys is a prick who bullies on others, he was by no means an idiot. After all, he's a student at Yashimoto Academy, the academy for the rich or the 'elites'. Not only were they taught about how to properly use your Esper powers or how to do quantum physics, they were also taught self-defence should anything bad happens.

How ironic, they were taught on how to do self-defence and yet they're the ones who bullies others.

So it was pretty difficult for someone like Hayato, who only learned how to fight from street brawls from trying to protect others unlike them who were taught by professionals.

Though there was one thing that he had that they didn't, that was experience. Through all the years of fighting against Espers like him, he managed to hone his abilities to the max of what he can currently do as a 13 year old. After all, how can someone like him defeat against Higher Levels without one of the most important trait of that only a few fighters like him and Touma have.

Precognition.

Though most people call it survival instinct or something like that. It's the trait that allows one to sense danger even before it happens, either it be dodging out of the way of an incoming attack that has yet to come, or the sudden feeling that tells you to run the other way because the path in front of him is dangerous even though it looks like every other path.

The thing is, Hayato and Touma's precognition are different from one another.

Touma's precognition is mostly based on telling him to dodge or block whenever he gets attacked by an Esper ability. Which is actually a good thing for him, because it matches well with his ability 'Imagine Breaker'. With it he can negate any incoming Esper ability heading his way, or sometimes dodge when he 'feels' like he can't negate the attack. Don't be mistaken, his precognition also affects when he is about to get hit by a normal physical attack but not as much as when he gets attacked by an Esper ability, but definitely much better than that of a normal person for someone his age.

While Hayato's precognition has some similarities Touma's, it is also slightly different. His precognition is based on the sudden feeling of bloodlust headed towards his general direction or towards his friends. He can easily tell on how to dodge an incoming attack whether it be a by close-range or long-range, he can dodge most attacks heading his way but something faster than a bullet is a no-go. At least for now, who knows? Like Touma, his precognition works perfectly with his 'Particle Manipulation', because most attacks heading his way he could nullify while 'loosening' their particles.

So using this, he avoided each and every strike headed his way until he felt the time was right to strike at Tawagoto.

"You bastard! Stop moving so I could kick your ass!" Tawagoto raised the pipe in the air and swung it down vertically towards Hayato's head.

And he was right.

An opportunity presented itself in front of him.

It was a small gap that was as big as a clenched fist. It was narrow and probably reckless, but against an opponent like him he had to risk it.

So Hayato spun his body to the right to dodge the strike that was headed towards his left temple. He then swiped his foot under Tawagoto, making him drop the pipe and fall down to the floor. Hayato then lunged towards Tawagoto and tried to knock him out then and there.

But before he could land the final hit on him, Tawagoto formed a fireball on his right hand and shot it towards the ground, which in result propelled him out of the strike. He then landed back on the ground as the force from a while ago made him slide a little bit, he grabbed a trash bin lid and threw it at Hayato with the hopes of momentarily stunning him so that he could collect his bearings.

Hayato stretched his hand out and narrowed his eyes as if he was in deep concentration, in what it seems to be an attempt to catch the flying lid headed his way

But something strange happened.

It wasn't as if it suddenly disappeared, or that it was reflected back at him. No, something else happened.

Right as the lid touched Hayato's outstretched hand, a strange ominous red light started to glow around the lid and made it bend around his hand. Like how a clay would bend if one were to put pressure on one spot.

What he did was that he 'loosened' the particles of the metal lid that was thrown at him, and since the formation of the particles were that of a mixture of a solid yet liquid at the same time it ended up bending around his hand and was now more shaped like a large metal boomerang than that of a trash bin lid.

Though, since he doesn't have full control over his ability, he was only able to affect half of the lid.

Like before, a blue light started to emit around the 'boomerang' and the particles started to 'tighten' yet again. This time instead of simply just 'tightening' the particles of the trash bin, he separated the particles at the edges of the boomerang and grouped them into groups to form small blades at the front.

Wha-?! What the hell did you just do?!" Tawagoto stood back up and took a step back just in case

Not enough to kill, but definitely enough to pierce human flesh.

Hayato then threw it back straight at the, yet again, surprised Tawagoto. Sadly, he wasn't that surprised as he was able to narrowly dodge the 'death-by-metal boomerang Hayato's special' as he likes to call it. Instead of impaling the Tawagoto, which was Hayato's plan, it ended up stuck on the wall.

"Tch" Hayato was obviously displeased at the result.

"You bastard! How dare you throw that at me you trash! Are you trying to kill me?!" Tawagoto scowled at him

Now here's another thing that's different from him and Touma.

When fighting, he doesn't really talk much unless he's fighting alongside with his friends.

Which he technically is but at the same time no since they have their own respective battles.

"You ignoring me you bastard?! I'll kill you!" Tawagoto stretched out both of his hands as a burst of flames dancing around his palms started to appear

 _(Oh sh*t, he's getting serious now, I need to be careful)_

The only reason why Hayato managed to get a good hit in was mainly because his opponent underestimated him. But if he gets serious, he could easily turn the tide of their battle.

 _(I hope their battles are going better than mine.)_ Hayato sighed to himself. _(Well, Saya should be able to handle herself, it seems like Touma did a number on that Kansui guy. While Mikoto's enemy, Shiri, doesn't look particularly strong. A good shock therapy should be able to handle him. But I still hope that nothing bad happens to them)_

 **== Scene 2 ==**

 ** _Saya_**

"So you're my opponent huh? You better get ready to the snot beaten outta you, because right now I'm pretty pissed off that you and your fellas' over there harmed one of my pals" Saya pointed at Kansui with playful but determined face.

In response, Kansui snickered and simply said "Yeah right as if you can actually do anything to harm me."

Saya and Kansui's abilities are pretty similar, both in the aspect of their abilities are about amplifying their bodies, and that it's under the category of Physical whatchamacallit. Don't really remember the name, not that it matters.

While Kansui's ability is 'Power Amplifier' is about 'amplifying' his muscles so that it would be sturdier than rock, Saya's ability is a bit different.

Her ability, 'Powered Body', is based on powering her body with adrenaline making her stronger. So the more dire the situation, the stronger her ability. It could also be powered using the sugar within the body instead of adrenaline, which explains her love for candy. But since she lacks control over her power, she can only 'Power' 6 certain points within her body; her chest, head, hands, and feet.

'It's highly probable that he can beat you in a head on battle, you do know that right Saya?'

 _(By the way, that's the random second voice in my 11 year old brain, where it came from I have no clue whatsoever on how he suddenly appeared. Aoi calls him Bob.)_

'Who are you talking to?'

 _(No one in particular.)_

'Are you going crazy by any chance?'

 _(That sounds rich coming from the second voice in my head.)_

'Is that an insult? Never mind, there's no use asking that from someone like you. Anyway do you have a plan?'

 _(Nope!)_

'Of course…'

 _(Oh wait! I do have one!)_

'Oh? Please, do tell'

 _(Beat the sh*t out of him)_

'… Really?'

 _(Shut up.)_

She then started to ignore all the complains of Bob as he was reprimanding Saya for her horrible plan, telling her on how st*pid it was and that at times like this it would be better to use your head.

Since Saya already started on 'Powering' her body in her designated areas when she heard that Touma was in trouble, the 6 areas are as hard as stone. If she could find a soft spot in his 'amplified' body' it would be a good advantage for her. She would target that one spot and—

Before Saya could finish her thought process, Kansui charged towards her with his arms stretched forward so that he could tackle her to the ground. Good thing Saya that she was able to react in time, she was able to duck under before she was grabbed and sent a few jabs towards Kansui's chest and abdomen while looking for soft spot in his defense.

No luck.

Kansui then grabbed her right arm before she could retract it. "Ahh?!" Saya was then lifted in the air and Kansui pulled back his fist so that he could punch her in the face. "Woah!" right before the fist could make contact with her face, she twisted her neck to narrowly dodge the incoming strike.

Then she lifted her leg and kicked him in the chin, making him drop Saya's arm and stagger back in result as blood came pouring out of his mouth.

"I'm not done!" She then sent a barrage of punches hitting his stomach and his sides. Then she backed off when he clasped both of his hands together and tried to bring it down aiming for Saya's head. She then tried to kick him in the head only to find out that she wasn't able to reach him. "Wait… What? EHHH?!"

'Saya! Look out!' her inner voice tried to warn her of the upcoming danger. But she was too slow to react.

Kansui then grabbed her leg with both of his hands, lifted her up from the ground and onto his shoulder as he turns around and pulls her entire body over his body and slammed her into the ground.

Saya's body then recoiled in pain as her small body made contact with cold, hard concrete. "Gwah?!" Was the only sound she was able to make as saliva came jumping out of her mouth. He didn't let it end there.

He placed his right knee over her petite body and stared down at her. "You damned brats think you could get away with whatever you want! It's time for you to learn your place!" He placed pressure over his knee so he could crush her. The crushing pain of how much pressure his placing on her stomach with the sudden pain from earlier, proved to be too much for her.

"Gyahhh!" She then tried forcibly moving his knee off of her body by punching it as hard as she can.

But these only lead to him applying more pressure to her body. "Maybe if you were to beg, I just might let you go."

In response, Saya looked at him and grinned "Y'know, people like you make me sick. So no way in hell will I ever do such a thing for an assh*le like you" She then spit in his face making him recoil his head in disgust as he wiped it away.

"You damned whore!" He then raised his fist in the air so that he could punch her in the face.

"Saya!" Suddenly, grass started to sprout out of the ground and managed to tangle itself on Kansui's hand. As he tried to get his hands free, he was too preoccupied that he left himself wide open, as the pressure on her body lessened significantly. It was at this moment, Saya acted.

She lifted her upper body and sat straight up so that she was closer to Kansui, and 'Powered' her right fist to the max making it as hard as steel and punched him in the face. He then lurched backwards in pain while holding his face shouting "You damned b*tch! I'm going to kill you for this.

Saya then got up from the grounds and looked at Yuuna with a grin on her face "Thanks Yuuna! Ya' saved me there!"

"You need to be careful Saya! He nearly got you!" Yuuna was worried over the reckless nature of her friend.

"Don't worry, as you can see I'm honky dory fine!" She then flexed her arms as if showing off that she was pretty much ok "I'll handle this guy, so just watch Touma for me okay!" She then turned towards Kansui and got into position.

This was a problem. Despite what she just said earlier, her body was screaming in pain. The judo throw or something he did on her makes it hard for her to stand straight properly, and when he placed a lot of pressure over her stomach only made the pain even more unbearable.

While Kansui was still fine, sure his head was badly injured and probably one good hit would knock him out. But it was too risky to try and go for it, he might be expecting that and suddenly do something unexpected and knock her out. So she needed a plan, badly.

The only problem is the fact that simply flinging punches at him with 'Powered' arms won't do jack sh*t, also there were two reasons why it would be too reckless to try and do the same thing she did awhile ago; One, the guy in front of her has more experience than her when it comes to using this type of ability and is REALLY pissed off. And two, her body was a bit too small for her small hands and feet could reach the guy's freaking head. Her hands could only reach until his chest.

'(Sigh) Only if you weren't so small Saya.'

 _(GAHHHHHH! IT'S NOT LIKE IM SMALL OR ANYTHING! HE'S JUST TOO BIG! THAT'S ALL!)_

'Excuses, excuses'

 _(IT'S THE TRUTH! LOOK AT HIM! He's 15 years old and looks like his 6ft! And I'm just a 11 year old, I'm still growing!)_

(U-huh, yeah sure. While you're at it can you pass me my allergy pills? I'm allergic to bullsh*t'

 _(I'M NOT SMALL! WHY WON'T YOU BELIEVE ME?!)_

Saya started screaming in her head as she forgets about the predicament she is currently in. And then she, unconsciously, turned her back on Kansui and started pulling her hair in frustration.

Kansui could only stare at her in confusion at what was happening to her. _(What the hell is wrong with her? Did I throw to hard awhile ago that she hit her head and went crazy?!)_

As much to Saya's denial, she can't fight like this or else she would just get herself injured. She needed a way to find an advantage over him or at least something that would help even out the playing field.

So she really needed a plan if she wanted to fight against a person like him. There was one slight problem though.

She's not exactly the best thinker there is.

 _(Hmmmm, what can I…..)_ She started pondering over her predicament as her back was still turned towards the confused Kansui.

And that's when it hit her. Like… Like….

'Like a truck made out of chocolate speeding down a highway made of candy. Instead of the normal truck driver, the one driving it was a big brown stuffed bear driving it with a trucker hat; with the real truck driver taped onto the front of the truck just suddenly crash into you. Something like that?'

 _(Damn you childish mind of an 11 year old!)_

'You know you like me Saya~~'

 _(Shut up.)_

Anyway, where was she? Oh yeah.

An epiphany suddenly came to her.

 _(If I can't reach his head, then I'll just have to aim for his 'other head')_ Saya started grinning demonically at the thought as she slowly turned her head towards Kansui. He could've sworn that he saw an evil purple aura started to pour out from her body.

'You-?! You would actually do such a thing?!'

 _(Desperate times, comes for desperate measures!)_

Saya then turned her entire body towards Kansui, while still grinning that looked so sweet but yet demonic, and said "Well then, shall we start our session together? I promise I won't be too hard on you~~." She then cracked her knuckles, letting out the sound of bone cracking in the alleyway.

Despite her friendly looking façade, Kansui's pretty sure… No! He knew for a fact that if he's not careful around this girl, he may lose something more precious than his life! He felt his body covered in cold sweat as he slowly took a step back as he 'amplified' his arms and chest so that he could prepare for everything.

Saya on the other hand was just standing there with that grin on her face. She focused her ability and 'Powered' only her finger tips and the front of her feet to make it as hard as steel.

No matter how much experience he may possibly have, Saya had a solid plan to instantly knock him out. If she succeeds then she wins, but if she fails… She'll pretty much have her ass handed to her.

So she crouched down to the ground, place both of her hands on the ground in front of her and stretched out her left foot backwards.

She propelled herself forwards by grasping the earth with her hands and pulled forward, while her feet released tremendous power by kicking up the dirt behind her. These two combinations allowed her to move at the speed of 75 m/h as she dashed towards Kansui.

He didn't have the time to process what just happened so he panicked and swinged his right fist towards her general direction with the hopes of hitting her.

Sad to say for him, Saya managed to spin out of the way of his fist while still in mid-air and she then landed right behind him, the perfect spot where she wanted to be.

'Saya, why don't you calm down before you do anything rash.'

 _(She Shoots!...)_

As soon as she landed, she spun around facing Kansui's fairly large back. Then she raises her right leg backwards, as if she was a major soccer league player who's about to break the tie breaker which would inevitably choose the winner of the match!

'Wait Saya! He may be a bad guy but he doesn't deserve-'

( _SHE SCORES!)_

She then kicked as hard as she can with her tough as metal foot straight towards the man's crotch, she then managed to make contact before he could to turn around. The disgusting sound of a man's hopes and dreams was shattered right then and there. Though were in Academy City, they'll probably be able to fix ii, right?

( _And the crowd goes wild!)_

 _'_ AHHH! It's not me but it's too painful to watch!'

"GRUGHHH-?!" Kansui suddenly went cross eyed as he fell to the ground holding his crouch with his mouth slightly foaming a bit.

To make sure he stays down. Saya 'lowered' the potency of power on her foot to be as hard as wood, and proceeded to round house kick him at the side of the head. Knocking him out cold.

 _(I should do that more often! It was so much easier than trying to knock em' out with a good punch to the jaw that's for sure, and it was more effective than I thought!)_ In the future, Saya shall be known as the 'Generation Destroyer' to all evil doers who cross her.

She then turned towards Yuuna and the others to see how they were doing and frowned. It seems like they were alright and that Yuuna was giving Touma first aid, which was a ripped shirt to use as an improvise bandage to try and stop the blood from seeping out but it wasn't working so well.

She then turned towards the others to see how their battles were goin.

 _(I wonder how the others are doing. Seems like Miko is about to finish with her opponent so I guess I don't need to intervene. Hayato on the other handseems like he's having trouble. Should I go help him?)_

 ** _== Scene 3 ==_**

 ** _Mikoto_**

' _Biri Biri'_ The sound of sparks echoing through the air as Mikoto faces her enemy. Her expression was that of someone who was pissed off, that face didn't mix too well with a cute girl like Mikoto. But right now she doesn't give a damn.

After all, how dare he harm her best friend! Touma didn't do anything wrong, if someone should be hurt it should be them!

"Why…." Mikoto muttered under her breath as a clear frown appear on her face as small sparks start to flow around her body. "Why did you hurt Touma!"

Shiri just stared at her for a few moments…. Then he held his sides as he randomly started laughing.

Mikoto just got angrier at his action "Wha?! Don't you dare laugh! What's so funny?!" She demanded.

"It's because the answer is so f*cking obvious yet you don't even know the answer? How st*pid are you?" He started laughing some more and finally stopped and continued with what he was saying earlier "Fine, let me tell you why. It's because trash like him DESERVES to be punished, he should learn his place and stay quiet for his own f*cking good. Besides, an adult needs to punish brats like you when your overstepping your boundaries right?"

"You…." She started to say as the electricity around her started to intensify. "You bastard! Don't you dare talk about him like that!" Mikoto's fist was then surrounded by electricity as she charged forward, while sending small electrical spears his direction one at a time.

Shiri started picking up objects around him and started throwing objects at Mikoto ranging from soda cans to trash bins. With the help of the electromagnetic field around her, she was able to find a safe route around the trash and headed straight for him. Pulling back her fist as she got ready to punch Shiri.

But sad to say, Mikoto wasn't especially good in fighting in close quarters, she would usually stay at the back sending electrical spears at her opponents as Touma, Hayato, and Saya take them head on. So Shiri managed to dodge her strikes easily and punched her in the gut.

The force was too strong for Mikoto as she lurched over in pain, then Shiri threw concrete blocks at her. She managed to get out of the way to dodge most of the incoming concrete blocks, but one managed to strike her leg making her trip.

"Hah! Look at how pathetic you look! All talk and no bite, like your friend over there." Mikoto knew that he was taunting her, but how could she NOT get angry at him? First, he and his friends hurt Touma, and now they insult him for his actions? Screw that.

Though what Mikoto needs is not get caught in his attempt to make her angry, what she needs is a plan. She slowly stood up by supporting herself by placing her hand on the wall, and looked at her surroundings for anything she can use.

Garbage bins? Nope, at most she can probably use those as cover from Shiri when he starts throwing more trash at her.

Soda cans? He'll probably just throw them back at me.

Glass shards? What will she do? Stab him? She hates him but not to the point where she'll kill him.

Beer bottles? Hmm, maybe if she… No, she'll just hurt herself while trying it.

A Cleaning Robot? That won't work, a cleaning robot wouldn't be able to… Wait, that's not a cleaning robot, that's a Security Robot!

Mikoto tried narrowing her eyes to get a clearer look on the robot. Besides the fact that the lens are broken, and the tazers being broken, it's pretty much functional. Why would they just leave an easily reapairable Security Bot in an alleyway? Just one of these things cost 2 million yen!

If she can get close enough, she can establish a 'link' with it using electricity to charge it up and control it and attack that Telekinetic with it! She just needed one chance, just one so that she can pour enough electricity into it and use it against him.

While Mikoto was pondering on how she'll be able to create such a diversion to get her that chance. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Aoi hiding behind a broken couch near Shiri and in his hands was a slingshot. He seemed to have figured out her idea as he gestured something with his hands that probably said 'I got this, just do whatever you need to do'.

She merely nodded in response, but for him that was enough.

Aoi then stood up from his cover and started slinging rocks at Shiri, which whom was bewildered by the sudden appearance of Aoi, and was hit on his right shouler, chest, and even the side of his head. Shiri then used his ability to 'lift' the objects around him and formed a wall to protect him from the sudden onslaught.

Normally, rocks would have just bounced off of the 'wall' and not be able to do much against it. But not that's not what happened. The rocks that Aoi slinged towards the 'wall' sudden shined blue, similar to the same shine that happened when Hayato 'tightened' the particles of the metal bat, and somehow pierced through some of the soft spots on the wall, like the garbage bags, and the cardboard boxes.

"What the f*ck?!" Shiri ducked to the ground to dodge the shots that came out from the other side of the 'wall'.

AIM Radar, the ability of Aoi, it allows him to track the location of any Esper he 'identified' within 50 meters radius of him. He needs to 'sniff' them so that he could 'identify' them. But this ability has a second function. To those he has already 'identified', if he develops a strong bond between him and his target and is within 10 meters radius from him, he can use a small portion of their ability and use it for 2 minutes. By doing so would make him exhausted when the time is up.

In this situation, he took a portion of Hayato's ability so that he could 'tighten' the particles of each rock he used against Shiri, and also manipulated the particles to change its 'form' and made it into what seems to be small stakes made of stone.

Shiri didn't sit around to get hit, "You brat! Take this!" so he retaliated by throwing the objects he picked up earlier towards Aoi while he would either duck behind cover or dodge out of the way and shot back at Shiri. Though to people in Anti-Skill or Judgement would be able to carry out the best course of action even under these circumstances, but for those kids it was something similar like bullet hell that you would only see in games.

During this time, Mikoto was already beside the security robot and charged it up using electricity and gained a little control over it. It was difficult for a Level One like her to try and fill it with enough electricity to make it move, even more so to try and control it. She knew that Aoi probably only got a couple of seconds left before breaking down, so she just tried to control it to ram it in to Shiri.

The security robot then charged towards Shiri "Huh? What the hell?" He threw trash at to try and stop its assault but to no avail as Mikoto, even while having a hard time, managed to make it dodge each time something was thrown at him. It ended up tackling Shiri in the gut and pinned him to the wall 'Gahh-?!' was the only sound that came out of his mouth as he tried to push the robot to the side using his ability, and thought _(Oh f*cking hell, I should've just used my ability on it.)_

It was Shiri's mistake for letting his guard down, while not noticing the little girl behind the robot, when he managed to move it to the side. Punched in the guts with an electrified fist that charged about 10,000 volts of electricity, and felt 2 small hands placed on his chest and felt a large amount of electricity going through his body as he fell towards the ground, unconscious.

Mikoto sighed in relief as her plan succeeded, if it had failed she wouldn't know what else to do. She was glad that Aoi was there to back her up. Oh yeah, Aoi!

She turned towards Aoi and smiled as she gave him thumbs up. In response, he smiled as well and also gave her thumbs up.

They just stared at each other in silence for a couple of seconds, and collapsed to the ground.

Both of them were exhausted. Aoi using the second function of AIM Radar, and Mikoto pushing her limits by trying to control the robot.

And both of them were happy. Because they were able to fight against a High Level Esper without the help of Hayato, Saya, or Touma and still won!

They wanted to help the others, but they were too exhausted. But they trusted them, they knew Saya and Hayato would win their battles.

So they left it up to them.

 **Scene 4**

 **Hayato & Saya**

Tawagoto was relentless in his fight against Hayato, whenever he would try to strike Tawagoto, he would set his arms ablaze and spin around making a mini fire tornado, making it nearly impossible to hit him. And when he tries to back away to create some distance between them, Tawagoto would either throw a barrage of fireballs at him, making it difficult for Hayato to dodge, or explode fireballs at the ground behind him so he could propel forward and try to punch Hayato with a flaming fist.

 _(What the hell?! In the last system scan, he was just a Level Three! He shouldn't have this type of power unless… Don't tell me he managed to Level up in such a short period of time?! It's just been a week! You gotta be kidding me!)_

Hayato was badly injured, not as much as Touma, but still bad. He had burnt marks on his left arm, right leg, and his back. His clothes were tattered as well, there goes his favourite jacket.

While Hayato was distracted by his thoughts, Tawagoto propelled himself forward and pulled back his right arm "Take this you bastard!"

"Oh sh-!" Before he could react, he was punched in the cheek and was sent flying. "GAHHH!" His face was partially burned from Tawagoto's punch and was now writhing in pain as he held his face in his hands.

"This ends here!" Tawagoto formed a large fireball in his hands and aimed it at Hayato "Now die!" But before the fireball was launched from his hands, Tawagoto was **kicked** in the side making him fall to the side.

"Hayato! You alright?!" The voice belonged to an energetic and loud friend of his, it was Saya. "Hey! I asked if you were alright!" She stretched out her hand towards him as he got a closer look on his friend's expression. It was that of a cheerful 11 year old, but he knew that underneath that façade was a girl worried over her friend.

"Thanks for the help Saya. You saved me back there" He finally replied as he grabbed the hand in front of him and was pulled up.

"It's alright, I wouldn't let my friend get hurt even more than he already is. Besides, 'Bob' would've gotten angry.

"Okay?" Hayato could only reply at the strange remark as he looked around and saw Mikoto and Aoi collapsed on the ground. "Seems like you guys were able to deal with them, good job."

"It was pretty difficult at first, but once I found his 'weak spot' all it took was one hit to get him fall to the ground."

"…" Hayato just stared at Saya, wondering if she did what he thinks she did but pushes no further into the subject.

"How…?" Hayato and Saya heard someone say behind them "HOW THE HELL ARE TRASH LIKE YOU ABLE TO DO THIS TO US!"

When they turned around they saw Tawagoto just glaring at them with killer intent. The flames started growing bigger and bigger as he continues to yell at the two. No, at all of the kids who were present.

"YOU BRATS ARE NOTHING BUT DISGUSTING TRASH AND YOU DARE DO THIS TO US?! TO YOU, WE ARE GODS! WE ARE ALL POWERFUL! ALMIGHTY! AND YET! YOU DARE OPPOSE US?! TRASH LIKE YOU SHOULD BE REMINDED WHO IS ON TOP, AND WHO IS ON THE BOTTOM!"

He then threw the large fireball at them, but they didn't dodge, they didn't have time to dodge. So Hayato pushed himself way over his limit as he grabbed onto Saya's hand and pulled her down into cover behind a large metal trash can, he also took cover and placed both of his hands on the side of the trash can as numerous light started to glow around it.

Blue, Yellow, and Orange

He then forcibly 'Tightened' the particles to be harder than steel itself, and 'Altered' every single damned particle he could get his hands on and changed it so that it would be fire resistant. What he did next was never used by him before. It took every bit of energy he had in his body to even try this with no guarantee of success, He 'Increased' the amount of particles. In result, it made the trash bin grow larger and was used as a barrier from the fireball from those around him.

Because of this, they were able to survive the explosion. Hayato, on the other hand, couldn't feel his arms. Not only were they severely bleeding, they were also burnt from the heat of the explosion.

The ability he used was a gamble, he knew that there was no guarantee for it to succeed, and even if it did it would take a heavy toll in his body. The results to him were pretty good. He was happy with himself that he was able to protect his friends.

"YOU IDIOT! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING?! YOU HAVE NEVER PRACTICED THAT BEFORE NOW HAVEN'T YOU! I'M RIGHT AREN'T I?!" Saya managed to catch him before he could fall to the ground. Her cheery attitude of hers was now gone as her face was filled with worry and grief for her friend "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?! YOU KNEW THAT WOULD'VE HAPPENED TO YOU! SO WHY?!" She couldn't do anything but shout at him as she held him in her arms and tears start flowing down her face.

He raised his hand and wiped away her tears and said "I did that… So that I could protect my friends… and I would be more than willing to do it again… if it means I can protect you guys…"

Saya could only swear at the fact that Hayato and Touma are so alike in their aspect of protecting others that it's sickening "But even so! We wouldn't be happy without you or Touma in our lives! If anyone one of us is missing then we will never be complete! Don't you dare forget that! And don't you dare throw away your life so easily! We have one idiot that's already hard enough to stop from doing something just like that to protect others and we don't need another one!"

Hayato could only stare at her in response as he simply closes his eyes and nods "Fine, and don't worry. I won't die from this."

"Ohhh, is the heart warming scene finally over? 'Cause right now it's just making me sick." Tawagoto came out of the smoke that settled itself in the air while staring at the others in utter disgust. "I guess there are some trash that can't be burned that easily." In his hands was the same fireball that caused all this damage, but this time there were two of them.

They have no way of defending themselves, and no means of escape. Saya could only stand in front of Hayato's limp body, getting ready to charge at Tawagoto. Yuuna did the same thing as she covered Touma's body with her own in an attempt to shield him as she closes her eyes. While Ruiko and Uiharu could only watch in terror as to might happen to them if the fireballs were thrown at them in such a small space.

"Heh, you don't have the guts to throw that." Saya scoffed at Tawagoto, but deep down she was scared sh*tless.

Tawagoto's face darkened as he sent a bone chilling grin towards her and said "Oh? Why is that?"

"Because; One, if you were to throw both of those, then you would be caught up in the blast as well, and two, your friends are here. They would die if throw that." She tried to keep a calm demeanour, but her cracking voice didn't help so well in that.

"First of all, I know for a fact that if I hit the dead end over there," he gestured towards the end of the alleyway "the backlash would only harm you guys and wouldn't even land a scratch on me. And two, I don't give a cr*p about those two, they could burn in hell for all I care." He said nonchalantly.

"What? But they're your friends!" Saya was angry at the fact that he would disregard his friends like that, and she was mostly wondering why she was surprised at this assh*les attitude.

"I don't need weak 'friends', I only need strong 'subordinates'. I don't care about 'friendship' and all that cr*p. All I care about is power! After all, there's only one thing important about an Esper that determines their status in life. Strength."

"No, you're wrong about that." Yuuna said sternly as she looks at Tawagoto in the eyes, feeling pressure come over her body but continues "Humans' worth isn't determined by the power they own, they are determined by what values they have, and what they live for."

"Huh? Value? What they live for? What type of sh*t—"

"She's right y'know." Saya cuts Tawagoto off, with the usual cheery expression back on her face which served to only piss off Tawagoto even more. "What does having power gives you? Friends? Fame? Fortune? What type of f*cked up idea is that. Having power and using it to abuse and look down on others will get you nothing. Wherever you go, people who will try to befriend you would only use you for their own ends. The fame that you'll receive isn't that of 'Greatness' or 'Strongest', but instead it would be 'Tyrant' or 'Demon'. And the money you'll receive is nothing but blood money, money extorted from those who are already poor to simply satisfy those who are rich. If you ask me how I feel about people like that. All I would say is, F*cking disgusting."

"hehehe…" Tawagoto placed a hand on his head and bended backwards as he started laughing manically "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

"…"

"Friends? As I said, I don't give a shit about that. So what if people call me a tyrant or a demon, it shows that I am **feared** and that no one would dare oppose me. Who cares if the money was forcibly taken from them, the **weak** should submit **everything** they have to the **strong**. It's the natural thing to do after all. For the weak to bow down to the strong"

"N-no…"

"… What did you say?" Tawagoto stared at the one who dared refuse to believe what he was saying. To his surprise, it wasn't Saya or Yuuna.

It was Ruiko

Ruiko was trying to stand while her whole body was shaking in pain. Saying that she was scared was an understatement, she was scared sh*tless at the person in front of her. So scared that she just wants to run away and go home. She just wants to go to sleep in her soft bed and dream about being a baseball player.

But she can't do that, not right now. Not in front of those who risked their lives just to protect her, and **definitely** not leave the boy whom she barely knew tried to protect her so that she could continue on smiling and not crying.

She just can't, and even if she can she won't! They risked their lives for her and now is the time to show that the person they tried so definitely to save is worth it their blood and tears. So she stood up, and she looked back at Tawagoto straight in the eyes which she could only describe as cold and scary. Tawagoto stared back at her and saw the scared brat from a while ago is long gone as her eyes are filled with determination.

"You're wrong." She finally spoke up after a long moment of silence. "Y-you're not strong… You're not strong at all!" Ruiko shouted at the top of her lungs.

Any trace of amusement was wiped off of his face as Tawagoto stared at Ruiko with disdain "What the hell are you getting at?"

After taking a deep breath, Ruiko continued "I said, you're not strong. Strength isn't about how powerful someone is. It's how you use your powers that make you strong. After seeing how these people were so kind to someone they have never met," She looked at each and every person in the area, except Tawagoto and his lackeys, and spent an extra amount of time looking at Touma before looking back at Tawagoto "made me realize something. Strength isn't about who you are, or what you were born with. Neither is it if you have power or not. **The True Meaning of Strength** , is about how you use your power. Those who use their powers for evil and bully others are the weak. While those who will stop at nothing to make other people be happy and protects them are the strong."

Ruiko then took a step forward and said.

"That's why you're **Weak** , while they are **Strong** "

Yuuna and Saya looked at her, and smiled approvingly. Despite everything that happened, all the injuries accumulated and insults thrown around. They now know that it was worth it, that what they've been through has all been worth it for protecting this kind-hearted girl. While Uiharu could only look at her in awe as if she someone entirely different from the friend that has been sad and miserable from all the suffering she's been through, but at the same time she was happy for her.

However, Tawagoto seems pissed off at the notion that **SHE** of all people called **HIM** weak. "YOU DAMN WH*RE! YOU DARE CALL ME WEAK?! ME?! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

He then propelled himself in the air and pulled his right fist back so that he could punch her in the face.

Time seemed to freeze itself in place for Ruiko.

Saya seemed like she tried to stop him before he could hit Ruiko, but she wouldn't be able to make it in time.

Yuuna tried tangling his feet down to the ground using her ability to grow grass, only for it to be burned in the process because of the flames.

While her bestfriend Uiharu could only scream out her name as she watched the events unfold right in front of her.

 _(Was this it? Is this how I go?)_ Ruiko thought to herself _(No, No Please NO! Not yet! Not now! Not when I finally meet such nice people! Not when I finally have a goal in my life to strive for. So please! God if you exist! Please Save Me!)_

As if it was scripted out of an movie. A middle-aged woman with blue hair tied in a ponytail, wearing an Anti-Skill uniform holding a riot shield in her hand. Suddenly appears out of nowhere, but she wasn't alone.

There were 2 others with her

One was a girl with long black hair wearing the ever so famous Nagentouji Academy school uniform, she also recognized the green band hanging from her right arm. Judgement. Nagasaki Asuka Level 4 Lightning Body

The second was a guy with somewhat dark green hair also wearing a Nagentouji school uniform with the same Judgement armband hanging from his right arm. His name was Nagasaki Haru Level 4 Sonic Boom

"Asuka! Haru! Quick, take him down!" The Anti-Skill officer started shouting orders at the 2

"Yes!" They replied in unison.

Asuka was wearing something like MMA gloves on her hands or something, while Haru took out a Mp3 player and placed the earphones on.

"Asuka, first song is 'Dreadout'" Haru said while looking through his Mp3 player.

But in response, she scratched the back of her head as she smiled sheepishly and said "Which one is that again?"

Haru just stared at her, then sighed " 'Laziness', just get ready to kick his ass once he starts slowing down."

"Okay!"

As Haru started listening to the song he was playing, he was snapping his fingers and tapping his foot on the ground as if to match the beat. Then suddenly, a heavy feeling cam washing over them. It made Tawagoto sluggish, but it also made Ruiko, Saya, Yuuna, and Uiharu collapse. Slowly losing consciousness.

"Woah! What did you do Haru?!"

"Relax, while I played the song of 'Laziness' for that guys over there, I thought it would be best to make them," he gestured towards Ruiko and the other "go to sleep. They look like hell and deserve it."

"… Right…go and be… th…" Their voices started to go vague as Ruiko and the others went to sleep.

 **== Author's Note ==**

 **Hey guys! Hope you guys like this chapter, again please do forgive me for my blunders because this is my very first time writing a FanFic.**

 **Anyway, hoped you liked the fighting scenes that I laid out, so that it could explain how the OCs though pattern goes and how their abilities work.**

 **Also as always if you guys have any suggestions, like characters to abilities to possible future scenarios would be highly appreciated**

 **Next chapter will be a breather chapter, especially since the story started out tense. It will be dedicated on improving friendships, and showing the thought processes and mental status of each of the OCs. It may span out to be more than one chapter, still unsure**

 **As always, thank you guys for reading and see you in the next chapter**


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